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Three Gould Hand-colored Lithographs from Birds of Australia and New Zealand

Creator: John Gould
Offered by: Timeless Intaglio – Rare Prints, Maps & Books

Description
Three hand-colored lithographs from John Gould's seven volume book "The Birds of Australia", which included New Zealand, depicting: pairs of "Eudyptes Chrysocome" (New Zealand Rock-hopper Crested Penguins), "Diomedea O Thalassarche Cauta" (Australian Shy Albatross) and "Sula Fusca" (Brown Gannets).

These beautiful sea bird prints are presented in identical very attractive brown wood frames, embellished with gold highlights in the corners and gold inner trim, along with light cream-colored French mats, each with a medium cream-colored band and a gold highlight line. There is scattered spotting. There is a small tear in the lower right corner of the penguin lithograph. The prints are otherwise in good condition.

Although these three identically framed and matted prints make for an attractive display grouping, they may be purchased separately, if preferred, for $1,175/each or $2,250/pair. Please contact us if you would like to purchase one, two or all three of these lithographs.

The art was created by John Gould, and some images by his wife Elizabeth Gould or Henry Richter. This ambitious and rare work was published in London by Richard and John E. Taylor. The lithographs were printed by C. Hallmandel. Reportedly only 250 copies were printed. The seven volumes, contains 681 lithographs are currently available for as much as $850,000.

John Gould was a contemporary of John James Audubon and every bit his equal in ambition and quality. Collectors in the 19th Century were fascinated with discoveries in natural history, especially the plants and wildlife of exotic lands. Gould published his first treatise in 1831; "A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains". He soon followed with "Ramphastidae" and "Birds of Europe", which were very successful, providing funds for his travel with his wife to exotic locations, including Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea to study and draw birds in their natural habitat. From his sketches, artists, such as his wife Elizabeth Gould, Henry Richter and Edward Lear, transferred them to stone, hand printed and hand colored with exquisite detail.

As well as an accomplished artist, Gould was an outstanding scientific naturalist and entrepreneur. He created approximately three thousand plates of birds in over forty monumental volumes over five decades, including "The Birds of Great Britain", "The Birds of Europe", "The Birds of Australia", "The Birds of Asia", "The Birds of New Guinea", "A Monograph of the Paradiseidae" (Birds of Paradise), "A Monograph of the Ramphastidae" (Family of Toucans), "A Monograph of the Trogonidae" (Family of Trogons), and "A Monograph of the Trochilidae" (Family of Hummingbirds).

Gould was very proud of the illustrations, particularly the hand coloring. Realizing that most people would not appreciate the effort made to produce these beautiful illustrations, he stated: "Many of the public are quite unaware how the colouring of these large plates is accomplished; and not a few believe that they are produced by some mechanical process or by chromo-lithography. This, however, is not the case; every sky with it's varied tints and every feather of each bird were coloured by hand. It will most likely cause some astonishment to those who give the subject a thought".

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Origin:	England
Period:	18th Century
Styles / Movements:	Other
Incollect Reference #:	574763

Dimensions

W.	28.25 in;	H.	22 in;	D.	1 in;
W.	71.76 cm;	H.	55.88 cm;	D.	2.54 cm;

Message from Seller:

Timeless Intaglio is an online gallery of rare and collectable antiquarian prints, maps and books. Although we specialize in all forms of vintage printed works on paper, the majority were created with the intaglio method of transferring ink from a plate, usually copper, to paper with a technique utilizing pressure generated by a press. Email us directly: rbreiman@timelessintaglio.com