Hunstein's Bird of Paradise

Hart was born in Limerick, Ireland, and was the son of a watercolour painter. He succeeded H.C. Richter as John Gould's main artist and lithographer in 1872 and although his work is close to Richter's his illustrations tend to have stronger, brighter colours and more detailed landscape backgrounds. Hart contributed drawings and lithographs to all of Gould's last works, including the Supplement, A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Hummingbirds. A Monograph of the Trogonidae, 2nd edition and the parts published after 1872 of The Birds of Great Britain and The Birds of Asia. This watercolour is for Gould's last major work The Birds of New Guinea for which Hart's brilliantly coloured illustrations of birds of paradise are examples of his work at its most luxuriant.