Jean Baptiste Audebert

Jean Baptiste Audebert (pronounced " ohd'bähr " ) (* 1759 in Rochefort, Poitou- Charentes, † December 1800 in Paris) was a French naturalist and painter.

Life and work

Audebert came early to Paris and trained in various studios for miniaturists. The patron, a wealthy patron of the natural history, especially entomology, mineralogy, Jean Baptiste Francois Gigot d' Orcy (1733-1793) noticed him and hired him despite politically turbulent times (the French Revolution ) to its natural history Private Collection in miniatures represent, even he let him go at his own cost to Holland and England.

As the revolution developed into a reign of terror, Audebert accepted an offer of his patron and, on a long study tour of the Netherlands and later to England. Already during this period that the first images, which were then published in his Histoire naturelle in 1800.

Audebert was an employee of Guillaume Antoine Olivier in his Histoire des insectes. Until his death Audebert worked on his Histoire naturelle et générale des colibris; a work which long remained unsurpassed in its splendor. Posthumously, this was then completed by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1802 and published in the publishing Desray.

The great art Audeberts was to apply different colors simultaneously on a plate and print. The colors themselves, he became the first case of watercolor paints to oil paints. The use of gold in the illustrations earned him much praise. Today, a street named after him in his hometown.

Together with Vieillot he described in 1801 following new to science species and subspecies:

• Puerto Rican Emerald Hummingbird ( Chlorostilbon maugaeus ) ( Audebert & Vieillot, 1801)
• Rose -throated Hummingbird ( Heliomaster longirostris ) ( Audebert & Vieillot, 1801)
• Emerald Mango Hummingbird ( Anthracothorax viridis ) ( Audebert & Vieillot, 1801)
• Subspecies of the Dominican Mango Hummingbirds ( Anthracothorax dominicus aurulentus ) ( Audebert & Vieillot, 1801)

Works (selection)

• Histoire naturelle of singes, the makis et des galéopithéques. Paris in 1800. ( Text and illustrations by Jean B. Audebert )
• Guillaume Antoine Olivier: Entomology ou histoire naturelle of insects. Avec leurs caractères génériques et spécifiques, leur description, synonymy et leur leur figure enluminée. Baudouin, Paris 1800 et seq ( illustrations by Jean B. Audebert ).
• Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot with: Oiseaux Dorés ou à Reflets Métalliques. Histoire Naturelle Générale et of hummingbirds, Oiseaux - Mouches, Jacamars et Promerops. Vol 1, Desray, Paris 1800-1802 (online, accessed on January 17, 2012).
• Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot with: Oiseaux Dorés ou à Reflets Métalliques. Histoire Naturelle et Générale des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Grimpéraux. Vol 2, Desray, Paris 1800-1802 (online, accessed on January 17, 2012).