John Mitchell Cantle was born in Sydney on 24 Oct. 1849 and worked as an architectural draughtsman and railway surveyor. He developed a parallel career as an important early ornithological painter, illustrator, cartoonist and postcard designer, sketching from observation while employed by the railways in the bush around Sydney and eastern New South Wales. Cantle first exhibited his work in 1883, and between that date and 1918, created several hundred watercolour and gouache paintings of birds. He was associated with the Australian Museum, Sydney, producing illustrations of some of its specimens, including several non-Australian birds. Cantle died in Petersham, Sydney, on 11 June 1919.