Study of a crowned pigeon.

Drawing, watercolour and gouache over black chalk, 14,5 x 19 cm, vellum, unsigned, with ms. caption "Columba Goura Coronata".

One of the few known studies of birds attributable to the French artist Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (1533-1588). Although many of his bird studies were copied as woodcut illustrations in the 1586 publication "La Clef des Champs", this crowned pigeon was not included. At the time of this drawing, the "Goura Coronata", or crowned pigeon was an extremely rare bird from New Guinea. Along with the bird-of-paradise, they were introduced into Europe by explorers from Portuguese and Spanish trading vessels returning from the East Indies. The drawing contains a ms. inscription "Jacques Le Moyne De Morgues" and number 24, probably by the hand of a later collector. For more information on the artist, the attribution and his oeuvre see the description in the previous lot.
Ref. P. Hulton, An Album of Plant Drawings by Jacques le Moyne de Morgues, in: The British Museum Quarterly 26 (1962), pp. 37-39. - P. Hulton, The Works of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, A Huguenot Artist in France, Florida and England, 2 vols., London 1977.