[Eastern rosella, ca 1838-ca 1841 / watercolour drawing by Elizabeth Gould]

SV/325

fonds

ca 1838-ca 1841

Graphic Materials, Drawings

9609159

1 drawing - watercolour over pencil - 27.5 x 21.2 cm (drawing); 32.7 x 24.5 cm (paper)

Elizabeth Gould, nee Coxen, natural history artist, was born 1804 in Ramsgate England, and married zoologist John Gould in 1829. To further his ornithological studies, John Gould visited Australia in 1838, accompanied by Elizabeth whose brothers were already in New South Wales. Spending time in Hobart and New South Wales she worked on executing drawings for her husband's projected publications on the birds of Australia. Returning to England in 1840, she died in 1841, aged 37.
John Gould’s influential The Birds of Australia was published in London 1840-1848.
At the time, knowledge of Elizabeth Gould’s involvement was little known, somewhat eclipsed by that of her husband. However her meticulous work executing thousands of drawings and hand-coloured plates for Gould’s publications is now widely regarded.

References:
Australian Dictionary of Biography
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gould-elizabeth-2112
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gould-john-2113

State Library of New South Wales
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/splendid-species

By direct descent from Elizabeth Gould to Andrew Crawford

This watercolour drawing is an unpublished work by artist Elizabeth Gould, whose illustrations featured in the landmark John Gould’s Birds of Australia, published 1840-1848. The detailed drawing depicts an eastern rosella (platycercus eximius), iconic native Australian bird common along the eastern coastline, particularly in New South Wales. The drawing is an ornithological study of the distinctive features and colouring of the bird. It may have been an early preparatory study made for the book, although the published illustration of the eastern rosella is quite different – a more finished work showing two rosellas in a different configuration. The drawing provides further research value, reflecting Elizabeth Gould’s ornithological work other than for publication.

Out of copyright: Creator died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Unsigned.

Attribution based on direct descent through Gould family.

No date. Date based on time Elizabeth Gould was in Australia and her death.