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C1829
Natives of N.S. Wales, as seen in the streets of Sydney.
Artist:
Augustus Earle (1793 - 1838)
Very rare and important lithograph by Augustus Earle, the first professional artist in the colony. This is one of the most significant images produced during the early colonial years of Sydney. From Earle’s, Views in New South Wales and Van … Read Full Description
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Details
Full Title:
Natives of N.S. Wales, as seen in the streets of Sydney.
Date:
C1829
Artist:
Augustus Earle (1793 - 1838)
Condition:
Minor creasing otherwise in good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured lithograph.
Image Size:
366mm
x 255mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1829
Description:
Very rare and important lithograph by Augustus Earle, the first professional artist in the colony. This is one of the most significant images produced during the early colonial years of Sydney.
From Earle’s, Views in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. Australian Scrap Book London: Charles Hullmandel, 1830. Plate one from part 4.
‘The coats of the aboriginal man with the waddy, standing with his back to the artist wears an officer’s coatee. This one is red with buff facings, the little tails turned up to reveal the buff. It originated either with the 48th Regiment – in New South Wales between 1817 and 1824 – or the 3rd Regiment, three detachments of which were in Sydney from 1823 to 1827, the same time Earle was visiting. The fact that warriors were wearing officers’ coats is significant. While soldiers were forbidden to sell or give away their uniforms, officers purchased their own, and were thus free to gift or trade them. It is possible that warriors had personal links with the officers from whom they acquired their jackets, in the same way that warriors in the early contact period had exchanged names with officers, and were known by these European names long after their namesakes had departed.’
In the following institutional collections:
National Gallery of Australia Collection:Â Bib ID513268
State Library of NSW : IE8795760
Rerences:
Butler (1982), 11
Ferguson (1941-69, 1986), 1342
Wantrup 219, p412
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Biography:
Augustus Earle (1793-1838)
Earle reached Hobart in 1825 on the Admiral Cockburn after being rescued from the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, and spent three years in Australia painting portraits of ‘exclusives’, landscapes and the Aborigines. He spent four months in Van Diemen’s Land and then left in May 1825 for Sydney.
There he quickly established himself as the colony’s leading artist and on the 8 July 1826, Earle advertised the opening of his art gallery at 10 George Street, Sydney, where he offered painting lessons and ‘a large assortment of every description of articles used in Drawing, Painting &c.’ as well as his own pictures. In August 1826 Earle was given a lithographic press by the astronomer James Dunlop that had been brought out by Governor Brisbane, which was probably the first lithographic press in the colony. Earle’s first lithographic attempt was a portrait of the Sydney Aborigine Bungaree. By November he had published the first part of his lithographed views of Sydney, Views in Australia and the second part was issued the following month.
Earle’s views were not a success as no further parts were issued as had been his original intention. There are three known sets of the Sydney printing of these lithographs, all are in institutional collections. On 20 October 1827 he sailed for New Zealand on board the Governor Macquarie, with a view to record its landscape and inhabitants. Thought to be the first professional European artist to take up residence in that country, he stayed for six months, returning to Sydney on board the same vessel on 5 May 1828. On 12 October he left New South Wales forever, embarking on The Rainbow bound for the Caroline Islands.
Back in London in 1829, Earle published his set of lithographic Views in New South Wales, and Van Diemen’s Land (1830). Although more successful than his colonial attempt, all of Earle’s lithographs are extremely rare.
