Count Konstanty Tyzenhauz (3 June 1786 – 16 March 1853) was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, naturalist, artist, and sponsor of ornithology in Poland. He made a large collection of eggs and bird skins at his estate in Postawy (now in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

). Tyzenhaus was born in Żołudek near Grodno to Count Ignacy and Maria Przezdziecka. After education at the

University of Vilnius Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

, he took part in the Napoleonic Wars (1812-14). It was shortly after the war that he became familiar with taxidermic techniques at the Paris

Museum of Natural History A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

. French was a second language in the Polish-Lithuanian artistocracy and his correspondents included Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville (1799-1874). He was awarded a Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honor on August 10, 1813, and he continued to live in Clermont not returning to Lithuania until the Tsar declared an amnesty for former soldiers of the Grand Army. He then took a keen interest in the birds of the Vilnius region and made collections of eggs and skins. He also wrote some books on ornithology. A trained artist (a student of

Jan Piotr Norblin Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine ( pl, Jan Piotr Norblin; 15 July 1745 – 23 February 1830) was a Polish- French painter, draughtsman, engraver and caricaturist. Born in France, from 1774 to 1804 he resided in the Crown of the Kingdom of ...

), he also illustrated plates for books by

Władysław Taczanowski Władysław Taczanowski (; 17 March 1819, in Jabłonna, Lublin Voivodeship – 17 January 1890, in Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and collector of natural history who explored the Russian Far East and northern Africa. He specialized mainly in orni ...

. After his death, the zoological collections (with 1093 skins and 563 eggs) were donated by his son Rajnold Tyzenhauz (1830-1880) to the Archaeological Commission of Vilnius and became part of the Museum of Antiquities.

References

External links

Zasady ornitologii, albo nauki o ptakach obejmujące: rys postępu jej literatury, taxonomią, glossologią i terminologią
(1841)
Ornitologia powszechna, czyli opisanie ptaków wszystkich części świata. Volume 1
(1842
Volume 2
(1844
Volume 3
(1846) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyzenhauz, Konstanty 1786 births 1853 deaths Polish ornithologists