1873 Original John Gould H/C Lithograph - Nutcracker

Description: An original plate from John Gould's masterpiece "Birds of Great Britain" published in 1873. This is widely considered the finest publication of Gould's long career - see below The title reads "Nucifraga Caryocatactes" or Nutcracker, published by Taylor & Francis in London. This is Plate 65 of 367. Tinted lithograph with beautiful hand finished coloring. Gould executed the original sketches and relied on expert ornithological artists to complete the final images - in this case H.C.Richter Good condition - minor edge tear and pencil note to bottom border and mild corner crease top right , not affecting image - see scan. Page size 21.5 x 14 inches Birds of Great BritainThe University of Glasgow, which owns a copy of Birds of Great Britain, describes John Gould as "the greatest figure in bird illustration after Audubon. Gould was not directly responsible for the illustrations himself, although he supervised their production closely."[20] Auctioneers Sotherans describe the work as "Gould's pride and joy".[21]Gould had already published some of the illustrations in Birds of Europe, but Birds of Great Britain represents a development of an aesthetic style in which illustrations of nests and young are added on a large scale.Sotherans Co.[21] reports that Gould published the book himself, producing 750 copies, which remain sought after both as complete volumes, and as individual plates, currently varying in price from £450 – £850. The University of Glasgow records that the volumes were issued in London in 25 parts, to make the complete set, between 1863 and 1873, and each set contained 367 coloured lithographs.Gould undertook an ornithological tour of Scandinavia in 1856, in preparation for the work, taking with him the artist Henry Wolf who drew 57 of the plates from Gould's preparatory sketches. According to The University of Glasgow[20] Gould's skill was in rapidly producing rough sketches from nature (a majority of the sketches were drawn from newly killed specimens) capturing the distinctiveness of each species. Gould then oversaw the process whereby his artists worked his sketches up into the finished drawings, which were made into coloured lithographs by engraver William Hart.There were problems: the stone engraving of the snowy owl in volume I was dropped and broken at an early stage in the printing. Later issues of this plate show evidence of this damage and consequently the early issue – printed before the accident – are considered more desirable.The lithographs were hand coloured. In the introduction for the work, Gould states "every sky with its varied tints and every feather of each bird were coloured by hand; and when it is considered that nearly two hundred and eighty thousand illustrations in the present work have been so treated, it will most likely cause some astonishment to those who give the subject a thought."The work has gathered critical acclaim: according to Mullens and Swann, Birds of Great Britain is "the most sumptuous and costly of British bird books", whilst Wood describes it as "a magnificent work". Isabella Tree writes that it "was seen – perhaps partly because its subject was British, as the culmination of [his] ... genius".[22]

Price: 200 USD

Location: Los Angeles, California

End Time: 2024-09-15T20:25:57.000Z

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