Paris, J. [L.] Boilly, 1820. Engraved, tinted broadsheet (36.3 x 27.3 cm).

A rarely-seen portrait of the French botanist Réné Louiche Desfontaines (1752-1833). "Desfontaines in 1773 went to Paris to study medicine. His interest in botany originated from lectures at the Jardin des Plantes given by Louis Guillaume Lemonnier. He excelled in his new interest and was elected to the French Academy of Sciences. He was also a member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine. Desfontaines spent two years in Tunisia and Algeria, returning with a large collection of plants. He wrote Flora Atlantica (1798-1799), which included 300 genera new to science. In addition, he worked also on ornithology, and presented the findings of his expeditions to Africa for one of the Memoires de L'Académie Royale des Sciences. Although the Mémoire corresponds to the year 1787, it was not published until 1789 by L'Imprimerie Royal as part of the Histoire de L'Académie Royale de Sciences. The convulsions of the French Revolution may have made the access to the text so scarce that in 1880 the ornithologist Alfred Newton republished the original text under the title Desfontaines's Mémoire sur quelques nouvelles espèces d'oiseaux des côtes de Barbarieon behalf of the Willughby Society of London. In 1786, he was appointed professor of botany at the Jardin des Plantes, replacing Lemonnier. He later became director of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, was one of the founders of the Institut de France, president of the Academy of Sciences, and elected to the Légion d’honneur. During the French Revolution he was appointed to the Commission Temporaire des Arts where he shaped a new vision of Natural History. Desfontaines established a herbarium, known as the Flora Atlantica, which has 1480 specimens and contains many type specimens for Mediterranean species. It was left to the City of Paris after his death. The genera Desfontainia and Fontanesia are named for this author" (Wikipedia). The artist, Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796-1874) was noted for his album of lithographs, Iconographie de l'Institut royal de France ou collection des portraits des Membres composant les quatre académies depuis 1814 jusqu'en 1825 (1820-1825). His portraits are much less stiff and formal than many by his contemporaries. Signed by the artist in the lower margin of the portrait and dated 1820. The caption states the date of his birth and the years when Desfontaines was elected as a member of the Académie (1782). Uncut. Right upper corner creased and soiled, several smaller, mostly marginal creases and dents; very small, insignificant burn mark in the figure, otherwise very good.