Le Braque de Bengale [Pl. 23]

A charming plate from "Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière," Georges Louis Marie Leclerc, comte de Buffon's magnum opus and "the most celebrated treatise on animals ever produced" (Dibner).
Comprised of a total of 44 volumes, the encyclopedic Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière revolutionized the study of natural history and was instrumental in both popularizing and elevating the field to the status of a serious discipline. With its comprehensive descriptions, exhaustive theories on botany, geography, zoology, and geology, and innovative approach to topics such as species classification and evolution, Buffon's publication was regarded as the seminal work on natural science.
Issued in numerous successive editions in multiple languages, Histoire Naturelle was an overwhelming success that "rivalled Diderot's Encyclopaedia in prestige and circulation, and ranks with that Enlightenment classic as an apotheosis of an age which sought to set down and explain everything" (Kestner, p.122). The publication of this monumental work established Buffon's reputation as the chief authority on natural history and as one of the most prominent figures of the Enlightenment.

Jacques de Sève was a prolific artist, who contributed illustrations to Buffon's Receuil de Vingtquatre Plantes et Fleurs (1772) and completed plates and vignettes for the works of Duhamel du Monceau, Perrault and others. His son, Jacques Eustache also worked as an artist and engraver.

Reference: Dibner, Heralds of Science 193; cf. Kastner, A Species of Eternity (1977); cf. Benezit, Dictionnaire