Within Australia
All orders ship freewithin Australia
Rest of the World
Orders over A$300
ship free worldwide
C1862
Mechanics’ Institution, Melbourne.
Finely engraved view of the Mechanics’ Institution, Melbourne, now the Melbourne Atheneum at 188 Collins Street, adjacent to the Melbourne Town Hall. The building was completed in 1842. The Melbourne City Council met in the building until 1852 when the … Read Full Description
Sold
Free Shipping
See Shipping page for Terms & Conditions
Details
Full Title:
Mechanics’ Institution, Melbourne.
Date:
C1862
Artist:
Unknown
Engraver:
Arthur Willmore
(1814 –
1888)
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured engraving.
Image Size:
162mm
x 123mm
Paper Size:
277mm
x 207mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1862
Description:
Finely engraved view of the Mechanics’ Institution, Melbourne, now the Melbourne Atheneum at 188 Collins Street, adjacent to the Melbourne Town Hall.
The building was completed in 1842. The Melbourne City Council met in the building until 1852 when the Melbourne Town Hall was built. The Institution changed its name to the Melbourne Athenaeum in 1872. At that time, as now, a focal point was the library. In 1877, membership was 1,681 and in 1879 there were 30,000 visits to the library. In 1880 it was reported ‘that the floor of the large hall was the only one in Melbourne expressly constructed for dancing‘. The front of the building was rebuilt in 1885 and 1886.
Artist:
Arthur Willmore (1814–1888)
Wilmore was born at Birmingham on 6 June 1814, brother of James Tibbitts Willmore, by whom he was trained. He became an engraver, excelling chiefly in landscape work. He was extensively employed and executed many plates for the ‘Art Journal’ from pictures by Collins, Cooke, Creswick, Rubens, Stanfield, Turner, Van Dyck, and others. His most important work was ‘The Return of the Lifeboat,’ after E. Duncan, engraved for the Art Union, 1878. Willmore frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1858 and 1885.
He died on 3 Nov. 1888.
