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C1880
Compagnoni’s Cafe, Pitt Street, Sydney.
Artist:
George Alphonse Collingridge de Tourcey (1847 - 1931)
Rare colonial engraving of a Compagnoni’s Cafe, fine dining restaurant in Pitt St, Sydney. From the original edition of The Illustrated Sydney News ‘ONE of the largest, and best appointed cafés in the Australian colonies is that known as Compagnoni’s … Read Full Description
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Details
Full Title:
Compagnoni’s Cafe, Pitt Street, Sydney.
Date:
C1880
Artist:
George Alphonse Collingridge de Tourcey (1847 - 1931)
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured engraving.
Image Size:
225mm
x 175mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1880
Description:
Rare colonial engraving of a Compagnoni’s Cafe, fine dining restaurant in Pitt St, Sydney.
From the original edition of The Illustrated Sydney News
‘ONE of the largest, and best appointed cafés in the Australian colonies is that known as Compagnoni’s situated in Pitt Street, Sydney, which has been wholly reconstructed and furnished in a most comfortable and elegant manner, reminding the visitor of the more famous establishments which line the Parisian Boulevards, and form one of the leading attractions of the French capital. At the inaugural dinner, there were present a large number of mercantile gentlemen and several members of Parliament and city aldermen. The members of the board of directors-namely, Mr. John Woods (in the chair), Messrs. Gorman, R. Nott, W. Carey, and W. Clarke, also attended. The business, which was formerly carried on by Mr. Compagnoni, is under the immediate direction of Mr. Samuel Packham, as manager. Those familiar with the old establishment will not easily be enabled to recognise it in its new guise, in consequence of the extensive alterations which have been made in the premises, including the extension and fitting up of a gentlemen’s dining hall, and a handsomely decorated ladies’ dining hall, the erection of a new kitchen, fitting up of lavatories, &c. The kitchen contains the latest and most approved steam cooking apparatus, and will be under the management of M. Marriette, as chef de cuisine, in which capacity he had extensive experience at the Union- Club, Melbourne, and at Ballarat. Judging from the opinions expressed by visitors, we should say the new café has a bright and prosperous future before it. The specialité Fix this text of the establishment is oysters, served up in every style.
Biography:
George Alphonse Collingridge de Tourcey (1847-1931)
Artist and historian. He rarely used ‘de Tourcey’. His parents moved to France in 1853 and he was educated at the Jesuit College, Vaugirard, and the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, studying architecture under Viollet-le-Duc, wood-engraving and painting. Corot informally accepted him as a pupil, a very rare favour. In 1867, when Garibaldi invaded the Roman States, Collingridge joined the Papal Zouaves and took part in seventeen engagements, receiving no wounds but three medals, including the Mentana Cross.
In 1869-70 he was back in Paris, returning to England after Sedan before settling again in Paris in 1872. Although he continued to paint throughout his career—he held his last exhibition in 1926—he now found his real métier in wood-engraving, then the staple form of graphics in such famous journals as the Illustrated London News and L’Illustration, for both of which he worked.
On the advice of his brother Arthur (1853-1907), also an artist, who was already in Australia, Collingridge migrated in 1879 to join the Illustrated Sydney News, he also worked for the Australian Town and Country Journal and the Sydney Mail. Dissatisfaction with lay control of the existing New South Wales Academy of Art led the brothers to found the (Royal) Art Society of New South Wales in July 1880, and in 1888 they launched the short-lived Australian Art, the first such journal in the continent. Both brothers taught in schools and technical colleges.
Between 1890 and 1925 Collingridge devoted two books and some thirty articles to establishing Portuguese priority to the charting of the Australian coastline.
