Jacques Barraband
Illustration — Le Tocan (toucan) by Jacques Barraband Jacques Barraband (or Pierre-Paul Barraband) (1767? (baptized 1768), Aubusson (Creuse), France–1 October 1809, Lyon) was a French zoological and botanical illustrator, renowned for his lifelike renderings of tropical birds. His pictures were based on mounted specimens and his illustrations were considered the most accurate ones made during the early 1800s.
Also recorded as Jacques Baraban · Baraband d'Aubusson · Jacques Barraban · M. Baraband
Jacques Barraband

Jacques Barraband · Public domain
- Born
- 1767 · Aubusson.
- Died
- 1809 · Lyon.
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- painter · naturalist · illustrator
- Languages
- French
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Le Tocan (toucan) by Jacques Barraband Jacques Barraband (or Pierre-Paul Barraband) (1767? (baptized 1768), Aubusson (Creuse), France–1 October 1809, Lyon) was a French zoological and botanical illustrator, renowned for his lifelike renderings of tropical birds. His pictures were based on mounted specimens and his illustrations were considered the most accurate ones made during the early 1800s.
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wikidata · Q3158196 · wikipedia · Jacques Barraband
In this article
Biography
Biography
• Illustration — Still life on porcelain by Jacques Barraband, 1797 Barraband was born to Jacques Barraband and Marie-Anne Bebit in 1767 (or 1768) and was baptized on August 31, 1768, at the church of Sainte-Croix in Aubusson. His father worked in the local tapestry factory and the son also worked there briefly after studying art at the local school, which was famed for producing several artists of note, including Francis Roby de Faureix and Etienne de La Seiglière de La Cour. In 1784 or 1785 he moved to Paris, working at tapestry and carpet stores on rue de la Huchette and studying art at l’Academie royale de peinture under Joseph-Laurent Malaine, at the Gobelins Manufactory. During the French exposition of 1798, he produced some paintings for the carpet manufacturers Gobelins and Savonnerie and for the porcelain makers Dihl and Gerhard. He also made illustrations of insects for the French naturalist Sonnini and illustrated a book by Fournier on Egypt. He then produced a series of watercolours of birds and flowers between 1801 and 1804 by direct commission of Napoleon Bonaparte. Among his most famous works are those he made to illustrate François Le Vaillant's scientific studies on parrots (perroquets), birds of paradise (oiseaux de paradis), rollers (rolliers), toucans (toucans), barbets (barbus), sugarbirds (promerops), bee-eaters (guêpiers), trogons (couroucous), and turacos (touracos). One of his students was Pauline Rifer de Courcelles who later married the artist Joseph August Knip. Pauline de Courcelles illustrated the birds in Histoire Naturelle de Tangaras, des Manakins et des Todiers by Anselme-Gaetan Desmarest (1805). Napoleon I hired Barraband to decorate the banquet hall at St. Cloud. He was appointed a professor at the school of Arts et Dessin de Lyon in 1807 and died two years later. His only daughter Adeline became a musician. • Illustration — Francois Levaillant named the orange-cheeked parrot (Pyrilia barrabandi) after Barraband Works illustrated by Barraband for Le Vaillant include: • Histoire naturelle des perroquets, Paris Levrault, Schoell & Cie, An IX-XII (1801–1805), 2 volumes. vol. 1, vol. 2 • Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celles des toucans et des barbus, Paris, Denné le jeune & Perlet, (1801–1806), 2 volumes. • Histoire naturelle des promérops et des guêpiers (et des couroucous et touracos, faisant suite à celle des oiseaux de paradis), Paris Levrault, (1806) 1807, (1816 ou 1818) 3 volumes. Barraband worked with Louis Bouquet and Langlois to create the engravings of birds. These plates were inked, à la poupée, that is the plate had different parts inked as needed and pressed to paper just once. Tone and shading corrections were done to the plates by hand. A monument was erected in his memory at the Lyons cemetery by his students.
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Le Coq de roche, mâle • Illustration — Le Nébuleux étalant ses parures • Illustration — Le petit Oiseau de paradis Emeraude, mâle • Illustration — Aratinga solstitialis

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Jacques Barraband

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Barraband, Jacques
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1767
Jacques Barraband born at Aubusson.
1809
Jacques Barraband died at Lyon.
Places
Named by the record
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Aubusson.
Birth place
Lyon.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1."At sixteen [so in 1784 or 1785], he came to Paris, where he entered the studio of Malaine, painter-draughtsman at the Gobelins"<Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne: histoire par ordre alphabétique de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes. .... publ. under the dir. of Louis-Gabriel Michaud (1773-1858), vol. 3, p. 132
- 2.Un directeur artistique au travail : Joseph-Laurent Malaine. theses.univ-lyon2.fr.
- 3.Chez L.-G. Michaud. Biographie Universelle, Ancienne et Moderne. Supplement. Ba-Ben. 180. 1834.
- 4.Anonymous. Beeton's Dictionary of Universal Biography: Being the Lives of Eminent Persons of All times. Ward, Lock and Co. 135. 1869.
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q3158196: Jacques BarrabandWikimedia Foundation
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Secondary witness
Further particulars
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Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The authorities additionally record the headings Jacques Baraban, Baraband d'Aubusson, Jacques Barraban, M. Baraband and Baraban. His recorded language was French.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
18,452 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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