Chrysaena Victor. Lovely Fijian Fruit Pigeons lithograph. Keulemans c1878.

by Keulemans, John Gerrard

Antique print of Fijian Fruit Pigeons (the largest Fruit Pigeons) by Keulemans c1878. When John Gould discovered this species, he declared "This is without doubt the loveliest of fruit pigeons. This dove inhabits the islands of Fiji."

Original hand-coloured lithograph by one of the finest of all bird artists, John Gerrard Keulemans (1842-1912), for ornithologist George Dawson Rowley’s “Ornithological Miscellany” published in London between 1875 and 1878. Keulemans' beautiful compositions and exquisitely finished hand-coloured lithographs were anatomically accurate, with birds in characteristic positions and environment.

After encouragement from curator of bird collections at the Zoological Society, John Gould's colleague Richard Bowdler Sharpe, Keulemans relocated from the Netherlands to London at the age of 26. His meticulous graphic studies contributed greatly to the finest natural history illustrated books between 1867 and 1911.

Page size 315 x 250mm (approximately 12.5 x 10 inches).