The Business of Nature

In 1838, John Gould and his wife, Elizabeth, left behind their family and home in London to travel to the far-flung colony of Van Diemens Land, from where Gould would travel around the mainland to observe the native fauna. Gould's artists - Elizabeth foremost among them - would depict these creatures in exquisite lithographs, accompanied by Gould's commentary. With all the acumen of a shrewd Victorian entrepreneur, Gould established a thriving business that took him into the world of the British aristocracy and the scientific elite. His is a tale of enduring love and of a man's unending ability to see beauty in nature, despite the greatest of life's tragedies.