1769 Buffon French Engraving, Le Bélier & La Brebis

An original 18th century French engraving from the 1769 edition of Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière, published in Paris by the Imprimerie Royale.

This beautiful plate depicts Le Bélier and La Brebis, the ram and ewe, each set within its own pastoral French landscape. The ram is shown with wonderfully curled horns against a small village and church, while the ewe appears below against another distant architectural landscape.

From Tome VI, the plate is signed Bréant Sculp.

Each engraving in this collection was individually removed from the same 1769 volume and is an authentic period print, not a later reproduction. Over 250 years old, the paper shows the expected signs of age, including toning, spotting and variations along the edges, all visible in the photographs.

France, 1769
Original copperplate engraving on laid paper