Some of the most beautiful illustrations of Australia's birds are the fine hand-coloured lithographs by John Gerrard Keulemans and Henrik Gronvold for The Birds of Australia published in London between 1910 and 1927 by Gregory Macalister Mathews (1876-1949).
Mathews was born in northern New South Wales at Biamble near Merrygoen. Many years later, while an orchardist west of Sydney, Mathews met and married a widow who had 2 young children. When he was 26 the family left Australia for England. At first, Gregory Mathews spent as much time as possible with horses - hunting, and at the races and horse shows. He also loved visiting the British Museum (then known as the Zoological Society of London). Fascinated by the extensive collection of birds from around the world, Mathews met the librarian, Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1847-1909) who encouraged his interest.
John Gould (1804-1881) had obtained subscribers to finance grand publications - including 681 large hand-coloured lithographs for The Birds of Australia and a Supplement between 1840 and 1869. Sharpe encouraged Gregory Mathews to publish The Birds of Australia with ilustrations half the size of Gould's. Mathews researched up to 16 hours a day - corresponding with collectors and ornithologists around the world, to compile a descriptive text on each bird.
Although quicker more modern processes were available (and despite financing this ambitious project himself), Mathews commissioned the finest nature artists of the day to produce lithographic plates for 600 different Australian bird species (half the size of John Gould lithographs).
John Gerrard Keulemans (1842-1912) was instructed in anatomy and the scientific representation of birds by Professor Hermann Schlegel, Director of the Rijksmuseum of Natural History at Leiden. Having been told by Schlegel of Keulemans' anatomic accuracy and sensitivity in illustrating wildlife, Sharpe had encouraged Keulemans to move to London to illustrate Sharpe's own Monograph of the Alcedinidae, or Family of Kingfishers between 1868 and 1871.
Henrik Gronvold (1858-1940) had been an illustrator at the Biological Research Station of Copenhagen before he visited London in 1892, on the way to the United States. Gronvold was employed as a scientific artist by the Natural History Museum in London until 1895, and learnt taxidermy before gaining a reputation for his artistic skill - mostly in lithography.
Gregory Mathews' The Birds of Australia was one of the last publications ever to be beautifully and sensitively illustrated with individually hand-coloured lithographs. 225 individual lithographs were printed from each lithographic plate and then each print was beautifully coloured by hand.
Rarely seen today, the beautiful hand-coloured lithographs of Gregory Mathews' The Birds of Australia were published in London between 1910 and 1927. www.antiqueprintclub.com/Products/Antique-Prints/AUSTRALIAN-Nature/Australian-Birds.aspx?page=2