John Gould Hummingbirds
19th Century Lithographs
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John Gould (1804-1881) (editor)
John Gould et al. (after)
J. Gould, H.C. Richter, and William Hart (lithograph artists)
Hullmandel & Walton or Walter & Cohn (printers)
Hummingbirds
from A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Hummingbirds
London: 1849-87
Hand-colored lithographs, many highlighted with gold overpainted with transparent oil colors and varnish
21.5 x 14.5 inches each, average size overall
$1,200 to $1,500 each
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Prints from John Gould's famous series on hummingbirds, widely admired for their verisimilitude, including the use of gold and silver leaf to capture the natural iridescence of hummingbird feathers.  This is considered among Gould’s most popular and decorative works, combining colorful birds with indigenous flowers in natural settings.

John Gould is considered the Audubon of Great Britain, for his prolific and exhaustive production of color plates of birds in the 19th century.  The son of a gardener at Windsor Castle, Gould was a self-taught artist and naturalist.  He was hired as Curator and Preserver of Birds at the Zoological Society of London in 1828. Shortly thereafter, he married Elizabeth Coxen Gould (1803-1840), who became his collaborator and traveled and worked with him until her death. Gould acquired a collection of bird skins from the Himalayas, which he stuffed and mounted, and together the Goulds began their new career as ornithological illustrators, publishing their first collection of prints in 1831, Birds from the Himalaya Mountains. 

Gould chose the medium of lithography, influenced by the work of Edward Lear (1812-1888), who had just recognized the advantages of lithography in cutting out the “middleman” engraver and preserving his own artistic vision.  Gould enlisted Lear to work on The Birds of Europe with his wife, Elizabeth Gould, followed in 1833 by a commission of 10 plates for Gould’s Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans.  Gould’s biographer, Isabella Tree says, “It was Lear’s example that provided the impetus for the Gould’s first publication, and it was Lear who later transformed Gould’s static and unimaginative style into the confident and innovative work that characterized his second and all subsequent publications.” 

John Gould generally made the original sketches, and Elizabeth transferred them to lithographic stones and meticulously hand-colored them, though, in addition to Lear and Elizabeth, there were numerous other print artists involved in these works, such as Joseph Wolf, William Hart, and H.C. Richter, and numerous unnamed colorists. Over the next 50 years, Gould (and his wife) traveled to Asia, Australia and the East Indies to see and collect birds of the world.  Gould developed a collection of 1500 mounted specimens, which were exhibited in the Royal Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, London, in 1851 as part of the festivities surrounding the Great Exhibition.  

Gould’s prolific output was 49 large folio volumes, in 15 sets, containing more than 3,000 plates, some of which were published posthumously under the supervision of his later collaborator Richard Bowdler Sharp.  The bird prints were issued in unbound parts to subscribers only, and due to the labor-intensive nature of their production, only wealthy individuals and institutions could afford them. Gould also published numerous scientific papers, many describing new species, and his contributions to the study of ornithology were eventually recognized by being elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1843.

Gould’s monographs of hummingbirds, toucans, and birds of Great Britain, New Guinea, and Australia are among his most popular works.  His hummingbirds are particularly decorative, with the inclusion of exotic flowers of the birds’ habitats and the highlighting of the birds’ iridescent plumage with gold leaf under the hand color and heightened with gum Arabic.  The striking esthetic qualities of toucans are likewise emphasized, each large bird with bright orange or green plumage, and a prominent colorful beak.

Charles Joseph Hullmandel was an English draftsman, lithographer and printer. He worked mainly in London, although he had trained in Paris as a painter and travelled extensively in Europe making topographical drawings. In 1817, on a visit to Munich, he was introduced to lithography by the pioneering lithographer Alois Senefelder. The following year he produced Twenty-four Views of Italy, a set of images he had drawn and lithographed. Dissatisfied with the way his work had been printed, Hullmandel set up his own lithographic press. The quality of work he published by himself and other artists such as Giovanni Belzoni helped popularize the topographical lithograph among British artists.

Condition:  Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, wear, soft creases.  Paper tone may vary from one print another.

References:

Cantrell, Carol. "John Gould and the Book Illustrators." Australian Museum Online. http://www.amonline.net.au/research_library/johngould.htm (12 June 2003).

"Charles Joseph Hullmandel." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/03/0393/T039379.asp (28 March 2002).

“Golden Eagle.”  The Peregrine Fund.  http://www.peregrinefund.org/Explore_Raptors/eagles/goldeagl.html (7 April 2005).

Gould, John.  John Gould's Hummingbirds. Secaucus, N.J.: Wellfleet, 1990.

Hyman, Susan, Edward Lear's Birds.  New York: William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1980.

"John Gould." Australian National Botanic Gardens. http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/gould.john.html (12 June 2003).

Nissen IVB 380; Fine Bird Books, p.78; Anker 177; Zimmer, p.258; Sauer 16 and 29; Ayer/Zimmer 258, 263; McGill/Wood 365

Tree, Isabella.  The Ruling Passion of John Gould.  New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991.  pp. 36-50, 161-162.

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