François Levaillant  (1753–1824)

ZOOLOGICAL

François Levaillant was a French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist. He described many new species of birds based on birds he collected in Africa of which several are named after him. The Natural History of Parrots (1801–1805) contain this collection of antique lithographs, which records several incredible parrot species. Apparently Levaillant mounted the birds in life like positions for the artists, in order to capture the images more realistically. He went to the Cape of Good Hope in 1780 at the age of 27 as a gunner's mate for the Dutch East India Company, where he first decided to study the bird and animal life in its natural habitat.