121 Conrad Gesner (1516-1565) - Hand-coloured Woodcut - Ornithology - Tachycineta bicolor - Tree Swallow

This hand-coloured woodcut originates from ”Historia animalium” ("History of the Animals"), published in Zurich in 1551–1558 and 1587, is an encyclopedic "inventory of renaissance zoology" by Conrad Gessner (1516–1565). This Gessner’s ’work is considered the start of modern zoology in the West and it was the most widely read of all the Renaissance natural history books. The illustrations in 'Historia animalium' are very naturalistic compared to those found in Medieval bestiaries and printed copies of the Physiologus. Place and year of publication: Zurich, Switzerland, 1617.