April 5, 2023
From the Spring 2023 problem of Residing Chicken journal. Subscribe now.
Artist Elizabeth Gould created 36 lithographic plates for the e book A Monograph of the Trogonidae, or Household of Trogons, which was printed between 1835 and 1838. Elizabeth labored together with her husband John Gould, a well known naturalist and taxidermist, on the depictions of every species within the e book. She was a talented artist who taught herself the printmaking strategy of lithography, and John typically revised her work.
Regardless of being the artist behind the masterful paintings on this e book (together with this beautiful, outsized portrait of a pair of Resplendent Quetzals, the one foldout within the publication), Elizabeth was hardly ever given credit score for her contributions. Prints had been typically stamped with “J&E Gould,” and when she signed them by hand (simply seen on the leftmost fringe of the department—see inset within the picture above), she stayed true to that signature.
