This splendid hand-colored, folio-size lithograph, "White-Fronted Goose, Anser albifrons; Steph", from John Gould’s (1804-1881) monumental book "Birds Europe" (1832-1837) is in very good condition with light foxing and a small pencil mark on the lower right corner. Measuring 14" x 21", this lithograph magnificently displays the author’s scientific skill and attention to detail. These geese are expertly hand-colored and finely detailed. The goose in the goose in the foreground has a taupe colored body, with white and gray accenting on the back and wings and black spots on its belly. The goose in the background is colored in rich taupe with gray and white highlighting. Each geese has a white face and colored beak tip. Precise lines define and detail each feather, giving these birds great dimension and naturalistic qualities. John Gould was an English ornithologist, self-taught artist and naturalist. Gould first worked as a gardener under his father in the Royal Gardens of Windsor from 1818-1824, where he began his illustrations. He became an expert taxidermist, opening his own practice in London in 1824 and in 1827 he became the first Curator and Preserver at the museum of the Zoological Society of London. Through his work he was able to meet with the country’s leading naturalists and view new collections of birds given to the Zoological Society. His interest in birds was continually developing and in 1830 he published his first volume on birds, “A Century of Birds From the Himalaya Mountains.” For the next fifty years, Gould, his wife and artists working with them traveled around Asia, the East Indies and Australia. His wife Elizabeth and other artists were able to transfer his sketches to stone; hand print and hand-color them. One of the most accomplished and engaging natural history works of the 19th century, “The Birds of Europe” was also the first of Gould's works to feature plates by Edward Lear. A total of sixty-eight images bear Lear's name, and they are among
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