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[Federbild : an album of bird portraits executed using plumage from the subjects]

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Description: "A charming highly-accomplished collection of ornithological portraits, made with feathers. The unknown creator of these very fine mixed-media works has taken enormous care to represent the subjects as accurately as possible. The feathers are all chosen and placed individually in a process that would have taken many days of painstaking work to complete. The backgrounds have a naïve simplicity. ... The method of working, although almost unknown today, belonged to a well-established tradition. Sixteenth century natural historian Ulisse Aldrovandi described the art form as a 'threshold between art and science.' In the 18th century, ornithologist George Edwards (1694-1773) gave detailed instructions 'for making Pictures of Birds, with their Natural Feathers,' published within his History of Uncommon Birds and Gleanings of Natural History. German featherwork, or federbild, was a major craft art and export of the Egerland region, introduced at the end of the eighteenth century by the Dominican monk Hieronymus Trötscher. An ingenious combination of watercolor with paper and feather collage, this technique is associated with the sentimental, folksy style of the Biedermeier period. While there is a clear line of influence from the Naturselbstdruck (nature-printing) tradition of the previous century. Trötscher may also have ... been inspired by the intricate featherwork mosaics created by Mexican artists in the New World. Mexican featherwork had enjoyed an earlier popularity in Renaissance Europe, adopted for cabinets of curiosities and the luxury book arts"--From bookseller's description (Donald A. Heald).

[Federbild : an album of bird portraits executed using plumage from the subjects]

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