The White Falcon
18th century
Perched regally on a grassy rock, this pale bird of prey—dubbed 'Le Blanchard' or 'The White One'—stares off into the distance with intense amber eyes. Created by the flamboyant French explorer François Levaillant in the late 18th century, this hand-colored engraving comes from his famous natural history books on African birds. Levaillant was a bit of a showman who traveled to South Africa and brought back thousands of specimens; he insisted his illustrators capture the birds' true colors and postures, making his books the 'blockbusters' of ornithology at the time. The fine lines of the engraving perfectly capture the soft texture of the feathers and the sharp danger of those talons.
- Technique
- Hand-colored engraving
- Material
- Paper
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