Josiah Whymper was born the son of a brewer and apprenticed as a stone mason. He is best know today, however, as a water color painter, etcher, wood engraver and teacher whose work forcused on landscapes and natiral history. He produced an extensive illustrated study of animals for the Society for Christian Knowledge in 1843 and a series of landscapes entitled Phenomena of Nature in 1849. Many of the mid-nineteenth century illustrators studied in his workshp and his son continue his father's work.