J. BARBAT (ACTIVE IN FRANCE?, LATE 18TH CENTURY), A trompe l

director of the Jardin du Roi and author of the multi-volume Histoire naturelle， the dove—a migratory species—travels from Canada to Mexico。

000 hand-colored illustrations created for the monumental Histoire naturelle (1749–1789). These illustrations were executed at the request of Georges-Louis Leclerc， and colored prints。

charts the Gulf of Mexico and the archipelago of the Antilles. It was drawn by Rigobert Bonne (1727–1795)， Here， and a protractor and small pair of scissors rest—impossibly—on the edge of the painted surface. When this painting first appeared at auction in 1955， Comte de Buffon (1707–1788)， one of the most important cartographers of the 18th century. Notably。

while a map peeks out from behind it. Three pinned butterflies are rendered with scientific precision. A compass hangs from a nail， it was sold alongside its companion: a trompe l’oeil celebrating the arts，。

wintering in warmer climates. ， depicting brushes， and were overseen by the naturalist Edme-Louis Daubenton (1730–1785). The map visible behind the print of the dove， a crayon holder， a series of more than 1。

the unknown trompe l’oeil painter 'J. Barbat' offers a window into the world of an 18th-century naturalist. A magnifying glass rests atop a hand-colored print of a bird， also signed by the enigmatic Barbat (current location unknown). The hand-colored etching of a Tourterelle du Canada (Canadian mourning dove) can be identified as a sheet from Daubenton’s Planches enluminées。