Gregory Mathews

Gregory Mathews — Australian Ornithological Publications

Gregory Mathews (1876-1949) was the foremost systematic ornithologist of Australian birds of his generation, whose publications — produced between 1910 and 1927 — represent the most comprehensive and scientifically rigorous treatment of Australian ornithology ever undertaken by a single author. His monumental work The Birds of Australia, published in twelve volumes with supplements by Witherby and Company in London, established the taxonomic framework for Australian ornithology that shaped the discipline for much of the 20th century.

The plates produced for Mathews’s publications were the work of leading natural history artists of the period, including Henrik Gronvold, John Gerrard Keulemans and others whose reputations were established in the great tradition of European ornithological illustration. These artists brought to Australian subjects the technical skills and scientific discipline developed in the production of plates for major European ornithological works, creating images of consistently high quality that combined taxonomic accuracy with genuine artistic accomplishment.

The scale and ambition of Mathews’s ornithological project was extraordinary. The Birds of Australia and its associated publications — including the Austral Avian Record, the Novitates Zoologicae contributions and other specialist papers — covered the full range of Australian, New Guinea and related avifauna with a thoroughness and systematic rigour that had no precedent in colonial or British ornithological publishing. The financial investment required to produce the plates for these publications was substantial, and complete sets of Mathews’s major works are now rare and of considerable collector significance.

Individual plates from Mathews’s publications are available to collectors who seek the finest quality of Australian ornithological illustration from the early 20th century. These prints — depicting parrots, cockatoos, pigeons, raptors, waders and the full breadth of Australian avifauna — represent the culmination of the tradition of illustrated Australian natural history that began with Gould’s landmark publications in the mid-19th century.

Gregory Mathews prints are collected by specialist ornithological collectors, Australian natural history enthusiasts and those drawn by the high quality of the plate-making tradition they represent. They are among the most technically accomplished antique Australian bird prints available in the collector market.