This work was commissioned by the most famous publisher working in Paris in the early 20th century, Ambroise Vollard. He commissioned some of the most brilliant artists of the period. The Histoire Naturelle (Natural History) written by the 18th-century French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, was scientifically obsolete by the 20th century, but had become a classic of French literature with its attempt to codify the natural world, often by means of allegory. Picasso's illustrations follow the spirit of the text: many of them are quirky and humorous and show anthropomorphic tendencies.