Edward J. Detmold and his twin brother Maurice were widely regarded as child prodigies, exhibiting at London’s Royal Academy at the age of 13. The brothers worked closely together until Maurice’s suicide in 1908. The Detmolds are known as engravers, watercolourists and illustrators of natural history subjects. They began experimenting with etching at an early age, eventually acquiring their own printing press. Their first joint etchings appeared in 1898 as a portfolio of eight prints. They were commissioned to produce a book by the publisher J. M. Dent in 1899, entitled Adventures in Birdland, and they produced a set of 16 illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, published in 1903. Taurus, from this same period, demonstrates Detmold’s interest in surface design and in ascribing personality to the animal.