Jacques Barraband was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 zoological and botanical illustrator, renowned for his life-like renderings of tropical birds.

Biography

Barraband produced a series of watercolours of birds and flowers between 1801 and 1804 by direct commission of Napoleon Bonaparte. Among his most famous works are those he made to illustrate François Le Vaillant

François Le Vaillant

François Levaillant or Le Vaillant was a French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist.-Biography:...

's scientific studies on parrot

Parrot

Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...

s (perroquets), Birds of Paradise

Bird of paradise

The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species in this family are found on the island of New Guinea and its satellites, with a few species occurring in the Moluccas and eastern Australia. The family has forty species in 14 genera...

 (oiseaux de paradis), roller

Roller

The rollers are an Old World family, Coraciidae, of near passerine birds. The group gets its name from the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights. Rollers resemble crows in size and build, and share the colourful appearance of kingfishers and...

s (rolliers), toucan

Toucan

Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. The family is most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and about forty different species...

s (toucans), barbets (barbus), sugarbird

Sugarbird

The sugarbirds are a small family, Promeropidae, of passerine birds which are restricted to southern Africa. The two species of sugarbird make up one of only two bird families restricted entirely to southern Africa, the other being the rock-jumpers Chaetopidae...

s (promerops), bee-eater

Bee-eater

The bee-eaters are a group of near-passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa and Asia but others occur in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers...

s (guêpiers), trogon

Trogon

The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family contains 39 species in eight genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the mid-Eocene. They might constitute a member of the basal radiation of...

s (couroucous), and turaco

Turaco

The turacos make up the bird family Musophagidae , which includes plantain-eaters and go-away-birds. In southern Africa both turacos and go-away-birds are commonly known as louries. They are semi-zygodactylous - the fourth toe can be switched back and forth...

s (touracos).

Works illustrated by Barraband for Le Vaillant include:

• Histoire naturelle des perroquets, Paris Levrault, Schoell & Cie, An IX-XII (1801-1805), 2 volumes. vol. 1 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k97063d, vol. 2 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k97064r
• Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celles des toucans et des barbus, Paris, Denné le jeune & Perlet, (1801-1806), 2 volumes.
• Histoire naturelle des promérops et des guêpiers (et des couroucous et touracos, faisant suite à celle des oiseaux de paradis), Paris Levrault, (1806) 1807, (1816 ou 1818) 3 volumes.