Bird 128 – John & Elizabeth Gould

Lock down is still with us, so this week another bonus bird that’s a bit different. Today I would like to introduce you to the 19th Century ornithology power couple, John and Elizabeth Gould.

John Gould (1804-1881) is probably the most famed ornithologist of all time. 

He was the first to document many species of birds and also worked with Charles Darwin, helping him to identify and catalogue the birds he collected during his travels to the Galapagos which would eventually inform the Theory of Evolution.

Elizabeth Gould (1804-1841) was a talented artist, and she was responsible for creating the illustrations that accompanied many of John’s writings.

Some of her best work went into John’s study of Toucans and the seminal work, The Birds of Australia. It included descriptions of over 300 birds which were new to science, with the Goulds the first to describe and depict them.

Her most famous illustration is of the Superb Fairywren.

The Goulds lived during a time when the division between art and science was not as hard as it is today. Studies of the natural world would always be accompanied by the most detailed and gorgeous illustrations, themselves works of art.

Sadly Elizabeth died quite young after their trip to Australia. John wasn’t a bad hand at illustration himself and he went on to complete other studies on Hummingbirds and the birds of Great Britain.

For their various contributions to the bird world they both have numerous species named after them. In particular, the Gouldian Finch is named for Elizabeth. 

And Gould’s Inca Hummingbirds are named for John.

Shortly before John’s death the Pre-Raphaelite artist, John Everett Millias, paid him a visit. The visit inspired one of my favourite paintings, The Ruling Passion, showing an aged ornithologist (not a depiction of Gould himself) passing on his love and knowledge of the natural world to the next generation.

The Goulds are from a time when knowledge alone wasn’t key, but beauty as well. Maybe we’ve forgotten that. Back then it seemed they knew that the best way to teach was not only to inspire the intellect but the spirit as well.

21/04/2020