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Paintings and drawings from the 17th to the 19th century
Attributed to Frederick II of Prussia (Berlin, 1712 – Potsdam, 1786)
Yellow-throated American Tit
Circa 1768–1770. Gouache over black chalk outlines. H: 35; W: 21 cm. Monogrammed with the interlaced letters FR lower right. Paper lined, some foxing, partially varnished.
Sammlung verschiedener ausländischer und seltener Vögel, or Collection of Various Foreign and Uncommon Birds, is an album of engravings executed by Johann Seligmann, a German natural history artist. This work was intended as a German translation of George Edwards's Gleanings of Natural History and Natural History of Uncommon Birds, and Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands.
Combining these three celebrated English works, Seligmann's publication was issued in nine parts, published in Nuremberg between 1768 and 1776.
Our drawing faithfully reproduces a plate from the first part of this collection, published in 1768. As indicated by the monogram FR, standing for Fridericus Rex, it was executed by the King of Prussia, Frederick II.
As an inquisitive art enthusiast and tireless patron of the arts, it is hardly surprising that the sovereign himself practiced an artistic activity such as copying. Despite its rarity and cost, Seligmann's collection probably entered Frederick the Great's library during the first years of its publication.
