Avium vivae icones
Avium vivae icones is a set of bird studies engraved by Adriaen Collaert, published in Antwerp in 1580 for naturalists and collectors of illustrated natural history. Each plate shows one or two birds posed on branches or ground against a distant hilly landscape with small towns and cloud-streaked skies, drawn in fine parallel hatching. A designer could take the crisp linear modelling of feathers and the stippled, atmospheric backgrounds as a model for monochrome botanical or wildlife work.
