* Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues Dieppe circa 1533 - 1588 London

A depiction of a yellowhammer appears in the very rare volume of woodcuts of flowers, birds and animals after Le Moyne's designs, published as La Clef des Champs in 1586, two years before his death (see Hulton, op.cit.,  vol.I, p. 40, vol.II, pl. 76).  The aim of this book seems to have been to provide simple models for all kinds of artists, and most of the woodcuts are based on earlier sources or on Le Moyne's own earlier work.  Though probably hand-coloured before they were sold, the woodcuts are obviously more approximate in their description of natural historical details.  There are, however, many connections between the woodcuts and the drawings now in the British Museum.  For other studies of birds in the present group, see lots 31, 33 and 55, and see also the general introduction on pp. 38-39.