Jean Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was a Swiss-born painter of natural history subjects. He first worked as an illustrator recording specimens in the Empress Josephine's zoo. He went on to be a member of Napoleonic survey of Egypt, between 1798 and 1801, where his work culminated in numerous plates for the Le Description de l'Egypte.
In collaboration with fellow artist, Nicolas Hüet (1770-1830), with whom he worked at the Natural History Museum in Paris, he also contributed a lot of original artwork from which plates were engraved for Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux: pour servir de suite et de complément aux planches enluminées de Buffon, d'après les dessins de MM. Huet et Prêtre, Peintre attachés au Muséum d'histoire naturelle, by Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), published between 1820 and 1839.
The genus Megapodius, so named for their large feet, had only recently been discovered in Papua New Guinea by two French naturalists, Gaimard and Quoy, who accompanied Captain Freycinet on his voyage around the world in 1818. This specimen is a Megapodius reinwardt, or the Orange-footed Scrubfowl,

Finely detailed watercolour on wove paper, signed and dated, 1825, lower centre within the image, 34 x 23 cm. (13 3/8 x 9 in), the original artwork for plate 411 of Temminck's Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux.