Cuvier's Sabre-wing Hummingbirds: A 19th C. Hand-colored lithograph by Gould
This is an original 19th century hand-colored folio-sized lithograph entitled "Campylopterus Cuvieri" (Cuvier's Sabre-wing Hummingbird) by John Gould, as plate 52 published in his "A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-birds", published in London between 1849 and 1861. The print, which was drawn by Gould and Henry Richter and lithographed by Hullmandel and Walton, depicts two mostly green-colored hummingbirds with brown wings perched on a branch of a tropical long leafed plant, possibly bamboo with ferns in the background.
Creator: John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter
Creation Year: 1849-1861
Dimensions: Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)
Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)
Medium: Lithograph
Condition: See description below.
This is an original 19th century hand-colored folio-sized lithograph entitled "Campylopterus Cuvieri" (Cuvier's Sabre-wing Hummingbird) by John Gould, as plate 52 published in his "A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-birds", published in London between 1849 and 1861. The print, which was drawn by Gould and Henry Richter and lithographed by Hullmandel and Walton, depicts two mostly green-colored hummingbirds with brown wings perched on a branch of a tropical long leafed plant, possibly bamboo with ferns in the background.
Creator: John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter
Creation Year: 1849-1861
Dimensions: Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)
Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)
Medium: Lithograph
Condition: See description below.
This is an original 19th century hand-colored folio-sized lithograph entitled "Campylopterus Cuvieri" (Cuvier's Sabre-wing Hummingbird) by John Gould, as plate 52 published in his "A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-birds", published in London between 1849 and 1861. The print, which was drawn by Gould and Henry Richter and lithographed by Hullmandel and Walton, depicts two mostly green-colored hummingbirds with brown wings perched on a branch of a tropical long leafed plant, possibly bamboo with ferns in the background.
Creator: John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter
Creation Year: 1849-1861
Dimensions: Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)
Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)
Medium: Lithograph
Condition: See description below.
This beautiful Gould hand-colored hummingbird lithograph is augmented with gum-arabic paint. It is in excellent condition, other than some discoloration at the edges of the upper and lower right corners. The original descriptive text page from Gould's 19th century publication is included.
John Gould (1804-1881]) was an English ornithologist and artist. He, like his American contemporary John James Audubon, published a number of books on birds in the mid 19th century, illustrated by hand-colored lithographs. His wife and fellow artist, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists including Edward Lear and Henry Constantine Richter produced lithographs for his various publications. He has been considered the father of bird study in Australia and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. Charles Darwin referenced Gould’s work in his book, "On the Origin of Species" and Gould named a bird after Darwin; "Darwin's finches".
Gould began his career in London as a taxidermist, but in 1827 became the first curator and conservator at the museum of the Zoological Society of London. In this position naturalists brought him collections of birds from all over the world. He began creating drawings and eventually hand-colored lithographs with his wife and Edward Lear, which were the basis for his first publications. Darwin brought him specimens from the Galapagos Islands, including 12 species of finches which had never been described. In 1838, Gould and his wife travelled to Australia and their work led to the seven volume publication of “The Birds of Australia”. Gould had a fascination for hummingbirds and collected specimens of 320 varieties before ever seeing a live hummingbird on a trip to the United States in 1857. He eventually published “A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-birds". Other large publications include: "The Birds of Europe"," A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans”, “A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia, and the Adjacent Islands”, “A Monograph of the Odontophorinae, or Partridges of America”, “The Birds of Asia”, “The Birds of Great Britain” and "The Birds of New Guinea and the Adjacent Papuan Islands, including many new species recently discovered in Australia".
