Ardetta Pusilla (Minute Bittern) by John Gould Birds of Australia (1849-1883)

     Ardetta Pusilla (Minute Bittern) is a hand colored lithograph  by John Gould and Henry C. Richter. From the Birds of Australia 1849-1883 Vol. 6. showing two Bitterns hanging onto some reeds and looking in the water and another Bittern flying in the background. The image is in very good condition with stain mark around edges from mat and a professionally repaired tear in the upper right corner.

     John Gould ( 1804 – 1881 ) born in Dorsetshire, England was an artist, naturalist, taxidermist and one of the leading English ornithologists of his time. As a young man Gould assisted Charles Darwin in identifying Darwin’s collection of finches and mockingbirds and is consequently referenced in Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species. Gould’s findings help Darwin connect location with speciation which was pivotal for his theory of natural selection. became In his life time he published over 40 volumes with more than 3,000 colored plates that he illustrated in conjunction with his talented wife Elizabeth Gould, Edward Lear, Joseph Wolf, William Mathew Hart and Constantine Richter. In 1827 Gould became the taxidermist to the Zoological Society of London eventually becoming it’s curator and preserver. Within four years he published his first book. In his life time he published over 40 volumes with more than 3,000 colored plates that he illustrated in conjunction with his talented wife Elizabeth Gould, Edward Lear, Joseph Wolf, William Mathew Hart and Constantine Richter. some of his titles are Birds of Europe (1832-37), Monograph of the Ramphastide ( Toucans ) ( 1834 ), The Birds of Australia (1840-48), Mammmals of Australia (1845-63 ). In 1843 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.