GOULD, JOHN (1804-1881)

"The Emu - Dromaius Novae-Hollandiae" (c.1848)
after. Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (1807 - 1894)
original hand-coloured lithograph
35 x 51cm
signed in plate
*private collection, Sydney
 
John Gould FRS was an English ornithologist and bird artist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates that he produced with the assistance of his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. He has been considered the father of bird study in Australia and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species.