John Gould (1804-1881) From The Birds of Asia. London: John Gould, 1850-1883. Hand colored lithograph. 22 x 15 inches sheet. John Gould (1804-1881) was one of the most respected and prolific ornithologists of all time. He lived in England but he travelled to many then remote areas of the world to obtain bird specimens for his various editions of hand painted bird lithographs. John Gould employed other distinguished artists to help with the hand coloring throughout his career, which included his wife, Elizabeth Gould, William Hart, Edward Lear, H.C. Richter and Joseph Wolf.
Gould’s The Birds Of Asia includes more than 500 magnificent portraits of brightly coloured exotic birds from all corners of the far east. It was the most comprehensive study of Asiatic birds of its time, and recorded the extraordinary diversity of species of birds as disparate as pheasants from China, birds of paradise from Indonesia, parrots, kingfishers, and woodpeckers.