J. G. Keuleman (Born 1842 – Died 1912) was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He was a bird illustrator who lived and worked in England. He’s known for Natural history illustration. He illustrated a large number of the best-known books of ornithology of the 19th century. Keuleman loved art from his childhood and as a young man, he used to collect animal specimens for many museums including the Natural History Museum in Leiden. The director of this museum, Schlegel Hermann, encouraged Keuleman and sent him on the expedition to West Africa in 1864. Five years later, he was persuaded by Sharpe Richard Bowdler to illustrate a Monograph of the Family of Kingfishers or Alcedinidae, and to move to England. This is where he lived for the rest of his life. He had 15 children and was married twice. He had 8 children by his first wife and 7 children by his second wife.
Six of the children died before reaching adulthood and only nine of reached adulthood. Keuleman claimed he had a premonition about the moment of death of one of his sons. He also wrote topics on spirituality. He regularly provided illustrations for The Proceedings of the Zoological Society and for The Ibis. He also illustrated many important ornithology books, including A History of the Birds of New Zealand, History of the Birds of Ceylon, Monograph of the Bucerotidae, Monograph of the Turdidae, Biologia Centrali-Americana, and History of the Birds of Europe, among others. Keuleman’s ability to create vivid and accurate bird representations gave him prominence in his field.
