From the earliest accounts of creation, the lives of man and animals have been intertwined. Cave paintings show animals that existed purely for the convenience of man, fulfilling their food and clothing needs. Ancient Egyptians and Mycenaens took a somewhat more benevolent view and positioned animals in more naturalistic setting, where they played an important part in the design and order of everyday life. Greek and Roman animal art became even more realistic, drawn with detail and proportion. Early Medieval art introduced both real and fanciful animals that existed for the glory of God, ornamenting the pages of manuscripts and the architecture of churches. In an ongoing attempt to impose order upon nature, 13th century bestiaries attempted to describe animals and their ways in a somewhat anthropomorphic style. In the 15th century, animal depictions became more realistic and artists began actually drawing from life. The invention of the printing press made these images more widespread and earlier texts appear with the addition of these fanciful illustrations. The first illustrated book about animals (Conrad Von Megenburg’s Buch der Natur) was noteworthy more for its availability than its accuracy. The illustrations for Gessner’s Historia Aninalium and Mattioli’s Discordis in the 16th century set standards and were copied extensively well into the 17th century even as a more rational and scientific study of zoology began to emerge. The increase in exploration of foreign lands coupled with the revolutionary changes in human thought brought about by Newton, Locke, and Spinoza gave new impetus to the study of natural history in the 18th century. The images were drawn from specimens or from life, often positioned with imaginary or artificial backgrounds. It is a century of great graphic design and execution and no one surpassed the French in this field.

It is in the 19th century, however, that science and art combined to produce the most magnificent realistic illustrations of natural history. Increased private and government travel, the development of a middle class with the money and leisure to explore the wonders of nature, and the invention of lithography made illustrations available in cheaper and larger editions. The realism of Audubon & Gould was unsurpassed until the invention of the camera replaced the eye of the artist.