Giclee reprint of an original lithograph from The Mammals of Australia, a seminal three-volume scientific masterwork written and published by English naturalist John Gould between 1845 and 1863. Originally traveling to Australia in 1838 to study birds, Gould became so fascinated by the continent's unique mammalian fauna that he expanded his research to document them. His field assistant, John Gilbert, collected 142 of the featured specimens across remote territories before his tragic death during an expedition. While Gould directed the project and authored the text, the book's 182 famed, hand-colored lithographic plates were executed primarily by artist Henry Constantine Richter, building upon initial sketches by John and his late wife, Elizabeth Gould.

The comprehensive work covers Australia's distinct wildlife across three biological groups: egg-laying monotremes, marsupials, and placental species. Gould provided the global scientific community with some of its first accurate, lifelike illustrations of iconic animals like the platypus, kangaroo, koala, and wombat. Beyond its artistic beauty, the collection serves as a vital historical record today. Because it documents Australia's ecosystems prior to extensive European agricultural expansion, it includes invaluable scientific drawings of several species that have since become extinct or critically endangered.

This plate documents one of the most famous of these; the Tasmanian tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus. It remains the most frequently copied and iconic visual depiction of the extinct apex predator. Richter's famous plate features a lifelike pair of thylacines modeled after the very first live specimens to arrive at the Regents Park Zoo in London in 1850.

Gould's accompanying text proved to be shockingly prophetic. He explicitly warned that as the island of Tasmania became populated and roads cut through its primitive forests, extermination would take full sway, and the creature would ultimately become "recorded as an animal of the past" just like the wolf in Britain. This prediction became reality when colonial bounty hunting and habitat loss drove the species to extinction, culminating in the death of the last known captive thylacine at Hobart Zoo in 1936. Today, Gould's magnificent print has transcended its original role as a scientific illustration to become an acclaimed masterpiece of natural history art, famously preserved in national galleries and even adapted onto iconic regional symbols like the University of Tasmania archives and local Cascade beer labels.