About this sheet
This antique frog print shows four frogs seen from above, including a marbled pink tree frog and a blue frog with dark stripes, on an original hand coloured plate from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch headed Amphibien XXXII.
The frogs are drawn flat, as if seen from above, so that the pattern of the back and the long toes with their adhesive discs are clearly shown. One is speckled black and white with rosy legs, one is marbled in red and brown, one is a vivid blue with black and yellow stripes and a smaller one is banded in grey. The species named in Bertuch's text have not been confirmed, but the bright, almost jewel like colours make this a very decorative plate.
The plate comes from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend. Its source is the celebrated Bilderbuch fuer Kinder, the picture book for children conceived and edited by Friedrich Justin Bertuch in Weimar, whose plates were engraved afresh by Viennese engravers for this edition. Most plates carry their subject class and number in German, Latin and French across the top, so that the work could teach languages as well as natural history. Here the heading belongs to the series of amphibians, a class in which Bertuch, following the naturalists of his day, grouped snakes, lizards, crocodiles, frogs and even seals. The small engraved mark XV.B.18 places the sheet in volume 15 of the Vienna edition, which corresponds to the eighth volume of the Weimar original, dated 1813, so this Vienna plate cannot be earlier than that.
It is a copperplate engraving, coloured by hand with watercolour in the manner of the Weimar original. Bertuch drew his images from the best natural history books of his time, and the result is a lively, accessible record of how the natural world was understood around 1800. Single plates from the Bilderbuch are popular with collectors of antique natural history prints, and a group of related plates makes a handsome display in a study, library or hallway.
The sheet is in good condition for its age, with toning, scattered spots and pale staining towards the lower right; the frogs themselves are clean and well coloured.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
