Set of Four Dove Coloured Engravings by Eleazar Albin 18thc

Set of four beautiful 18th Century Coloured Engravings of doves, by Eleazar Albin. Depicting four different types of dove alongside descriptive text

Height 49 cm, Width 42 cm and Depth 3 cm

Eleazar Albin (fl. 1690 - c.1742) was an English Naturist and watercolour illustrator who wrote and illustrated a number of books including A Natural History of English Insects (1720), A Natural History of Birds (1731–38) and The Natural History of Spiders and other Curious Insects (1736). He has been described as one of the "great entomological book illustrators of the 18th century".

Nothing is known of his early life, though he may have been German-born and claimed to have been in Jamaica in 1701. In 1708 he is known to have been married and living in Picadilly, London According to autobiographical details in A Natural History of English Insects, Albin taught watercolour painting before being instructed in natural history by silk weaver and naturalist Joseph Dandridge

In his work on birds, he describes the wood crow from a stuffed specimen, being probably the last description of this bird made while the species was, probably, still extant.

Condition : Very Good
Materials : Watercolour
Origin : English
Manufacture Date : 18thc