Nicolas Huet

He also took part in Napoleon’s scientific and artistic exploration of Egypt between 1798 and 1801, subsequently illustrating the government's report. Huet was a skilled watercolourist and engraver, who acquired a reputation as natural history draughtsman. He also illustrated works by the naturalists Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Georges Cuvier. Huet produced a series of 246 animal drawings on vellum for the library of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, and these were published in 1808 as 'Collection de mammifères du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle'. Huet was also commissioned to create elaborate drawings of animals, often on vellum, for notables such as Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, and the military officer André Masséna, Prince d’Essling and Duc de Rivoli. Lambert Frères published a number of his images, and these were engraved by his brother Jean Baptiste, who also engraved Nicolas’ depictions of mammals. He also illustrated 'l’Histoire naturelle des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles', and 'Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d’oiseaux'. Among his paintings is a watercolor of the famous giraffe that Muhammad Ali Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, sent as a diplomatic gift to Charles X of France in 1826-27. This painting is now in the collections of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. Nicolas died on 26 December 1830 leaving no children.