Date of Printing: 1843 • Medium: Lithograph (hand colored) • Subject Category: Natural History - Fishes • Signed: Unsigned • Period Created: Romantic (1800 - 1899) • Plate Size HxWxD cm: N/A • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 29 x 22.2 • Style: Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Very Good • Edition Type: 1st Edition - Limited • Paper Type: Woven • Framed: Print only
From James Ellsworth De Kay's "Zoology of New York, or the New-York Fauna, Part V, Mollusca", published in Albany, NY by Carroll and Cook. Lithograph drawn by John William Hill. Stone printed by Endicott, New York. Hand colored.
From 1842 to 1844 De Kay published the multi-volume Zoology of New York, or The New-York Fauna covering: mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians and fish. This work was illustrated by the British born American painter John William Hill. Hill and De Kay spent much time in the field. By the end of April 1839, they had provided full descriptions and drawings for 700 of the nearly 2,300 animals they estimated to exist in New York, and begun rough descriptions of many more. In order to best represent the animals, Hill and De Kay early on decided to use a camera lucida for the rough drafts of the drawings. Hill's drawings of birds for De Kay's Zoology of New York were significant in that they represented the first time hand-colored lithographs were used to illustrate a state bird book.
John William Hill or often J.W. Hill (January 13, 1812 – September 24, 1879) was a British born American artist working in watercolor, gouache, lithography, and engraving. Hill's work focused primarily upon natural subjects including landscapes, still lifes, and ornithological and zoological subjects. In the 1850s, influenced by John Ruskin and Hill's association with American followers of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, his attention turned from technical illustration toward still life and landscape.