François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - c. 1800) was a French

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, engraver and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. Although trained as an engineer and draftsman, he began to produce engravings for books and it later became his primary profession. Martinet's year of birth is known but sources are divided on the year of his death. Little is known of his life, a son, Aaron Martinet, became a print dealer in Paris. By 1756 he became engraver for the King's cabinet, reporting to the Maison du Roi. Martinet engraved the plates for numerous works on natural history, especially

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. Notable in particular are those for Buffon's natural history where he made 1008 engravings. He also contributed 21 ornithological illustrations to Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie. His major work was for ''l'Ornithologia, sive Synopsis methodica'' of

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosophy, natural philosopher. Brisson was born on 30 April 1723 at Fontenay-le-Comte in the Vendée department of western France. Note that page 14 ...

(1760–63) to which he contributed extensively. Some of his plates have been of importance in the taxonomy and identification of now

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species. Some of his engravings were later hand coloured and these are not uniform or consistent across copies. He also produced illustrations of architecture, landscape, and theatre. François-Nicolas Martinet - Histoire des oiseaux - Cacatoés couronné.jpg,

Cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 species of parrots belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea ( true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up t ...

, 1790 File:François-Nicolas Martinet - Histoire des oiseaux - Pics épeiches.jpg, A Great spotted woodpecker on the left with a Middle spotted woodpecker (right) and a Lesser spotted woodpecker File:Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine (Pl. 33) (6056342714).jpg, Goldfish from the ″Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine″ (1780) File:Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine (Pl. 20) (6055792571).jpg, Varieties of goldfish from the ″Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine″ (1780) File:François-Nicolas Martinet - Description historique de Paris- III-Collège de Sorbonne.jpg, Collège de Sorbonne (1781)

References

Other sources

* ''L'Histoire des oiseaux, peints dans leurs aspects apparents et sensibles'', éd. originale conservée en un unique exemplaire au Trinity College d'Hartford. Nouvelle édition par le Bibliothèque des introuvables, avec les 208 gravures, 450 pages avec le texte originale et des commentaires d' Antoine Reille, ancien producteur de l'émission '' Les Animaux du Monde''.

External links

Smithsonian Library: François-Nicolas Martinet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinet, Francois-Nicolas 1731 births 1800 deaths French ornithologists French engravers