W. HART Antique Paradisea Decora Lithograph, inscription to lower left reads W. Hart del et lith., center inscription reads Paradisea Decora, subject shows two birds perched on branches, window measures approx 20 1/2 in. L x 13 3/4 in. W frame measures approx 30 3/4 in. L x 23 1/2 in. W, wood frame, surface wear to frame, professionally framed, not examined out of frame. William Matthew Hart (1830-1908) was an Irish-born English bird illustrator and lithographer who worked for John Gould. Hart started medical training, but was unable to complete his studies for financial reasons. He began working for Gould in 1851, beginning an association that was to last thirty years. Early during this period he made the patterns for the lithographic plates for Gould's work on hummingbirds, as well as working on The Birds of Great Britain with Henry Constantine Richter. By 1870 Hart had become Gould's chief artist and lithographer. After Gould's death in 1881, Hart was employed by Richard Bowdler Sharpe of the British Museum to complete Gould's work on