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C1858
Kangaroo Hunting. No.1 The Meet. / No. 2 The Chase…
Artist:
Very rare set of three c.19th hand coloured lithographs of a kangaroo hunt by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880) printed by Allen and Wigley, Sydney.. The only recorded sale of another set in the last 60 years was the F.G. Coles … Read Full Description
$A 25,000
S/N: GILL-KHUNT-001–508826
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Details
Full Title:
Kangaroo Hunting. No.1 The Meet. / No. 2 The Chase…
Date:
C1858
Artist:
Condition:
Small repaired tear in one margin otherwise in good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured lithographs, with one tint.
Image Size:
486mm
x 306mm
Paper Size:
600mm
x 430mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1858
Description:
Very rare set of three c.19th hand coloured lithographs of a kangaroo hunt by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880) printed by Allen and Wigley, Sydney..
The only recorded sale of another set in the last 60 years was the F.G. Coles set with his bookplate, sold by Renard/Joel, July 1965, lot 547, this same set was subsequently sold as part of the Davidson Collection –Part III on 7/25/2007 Lot 527.
The first of the lithographs was announced in the press at the end of October 1858:
Mr. S.T. Gill, whose reputation in every branch of his art is now so thoroughly established, has cleverly drawn on stone a lithograph ‘No. 1, The Meet,’ repesenting a bush party preparing to go out kanagroo hunting in the interior of Australia. This picture, which is of a torerably large size, is carefully printed on good paper, by Messrs. Allan and Wigley, of this city. The rude wooden hut in the wilderness, slim dogs, and strong, swift horses, with the colonial Nimrods and their attendants, for altogether a very pleasing and lively group.
It was announced that the whole series would be available in January of the following year. (S, Grishin, S.T. Gill & his audiences.)
In the first print titled; The Meet, shows Gill walking through a gate to his horse with a large dog on his left, and holding a bottle in his left hand. The rest of the party of men are outside a rustic colonial homestead with their horses and dogs. One of them has the conspicuous trappings of a wealthy squatter, tall, commanding, elaborately styled in black riding boots, yellow waistcoat, and scarlet jacket.
In the second, The Chase, the squatter in the red jacket and white horse leaps over a fallen log. The reckless excitement of the hunt is obvious as the settlers gallop across the dangerous terrain, whips raised. The dogs are chasing a kangaroo, which is retreating into the distance.
The third print: The Death, Shows a squatter beside his exhausted hounds as a hunter readies his knife to take the dead kangaroo’s tail. Gill on the bay lifts his hat in greeting to a group of approaching Aborigines.
References:
ABA The Davidson Collection I, II, III : 2005-7 Melbourne:: Part III, lot 527.
Bowden, K. Samuel Thomas Gill Artist. Maryborough 1971 :: p. 142.
Grishin, S. S.T. Gill & His Audience. Canberra 2015 :: p.-222-227, ill. 223, 225, 227.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 169785 / Bib ID: 2036259 / Bib ID: 463019
National Gallery Australia: Legacy id: 181287, 181288, 181289
ABA The Davidson Collection I, II, III : 2005-7 Melbourne:: Part III, lot 527.
Bowden, K. Samuel Thomas Gill Artist. Maryborough 1971 :: p. 142.
Grishin, S. S.T. Gill & His Audience. Canberra 2015 :: p.-222-227, ill. 223, 225, 227.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 169785 / Bib ID: 2036259 / Bib ID: 463019
National Gallery Australia: Legacy id: 181287, 181288, 181289
Samuel Thomas Gill (1818 - 1880)
Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880) S.T. Gill as he is often now known, was born at Somerset, England, the son of Rev. Samuel Gill, Baptist minister, and educated at Plymouth in a school kept by his parents, and later at Dr Seabrook's academy. His father taught him drawing and he was later employed in London as 'Draftsman and Water Colour Painter' by the Hubard Profile Gallery, an establishment which produced silhouettes. He arrived in South Australia in 1839 and by March 1840 had established a studio in Gawler Place, Adelaide, which was open from 'eleven till dusk'; he offered to produce portraits of human beings, horses and dogs, and to sketch houses and transfer the sketches 'to paper suited for home conveyance'. In 1846 he accompanied the Horrock's expedition which reached the head of Spencer Gulf. In 1852 Gill travelled to the Victoria and in the next twenty years produced drawings, watercolours and lithographs of scenes of the Victorian and New South Wales gold fields. After 1870 Gill fell into obscurity and on 27 October 1880 he collapsed in Post Office Place, Melbourne, and was found to be dead when taken to hospital. Gill's legacy is a large body of work which portrayed life during the greatest gold boom the world had ever seen.
