Scarce, large c.19th hand coloured view of Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), drawn and lithographed by the French-born artist François Cogné and printed by Charles Troedel for inclusion in The Melbourne Album (1863–64), one of the most important illustrated records of nineteenth-century Melbourne. Published from the Melbourne Album Office at 73 Collins Street East, the lithograph captures the busy anchorage at Hobson’s Bay during the height of Victoria’s gold rush prosperity, when Sandridge served as Melbourne’s principal maritime gateway.
Viewed from the waters of Hobson’s Bay, the composition is dominated by merchant sailing vessels and harbour craft lying at anchor, while the growing settlement of Sandridge stretches along the shoreline. Among the prominent landmarks are the Victoria Sugar Company works, whose chimney served as a navigational landmark for ships entering the port, together with the expanding wharves and commercial buildings that reflected Melbourne’s rapid transformation into Australia’s leading colonial city. The view combines accurate topographical observation with the clarity and refinement characteristic of Troedel’s lithographic printing.
François Cogné (1829–1883) was one of the principal artists employed by Charles Troedel, whose Melbourne printing establishment produced the finest colour lithographs in colonial Australia. The Melbourne Album comprised a series of views celebrating the city’s architecture, streetscapes and surrounding districts, and is regarded as one of the outstanding achievements of Australian nineteenth-century lithography. Individual plates are increasingly sought after for their historical significance, aesthetic quality and rarity.
References: Ferguson, Bibliography of Australia, 6976; Scardamaglia, Printed on Stone: The Lithographs of Charles Troedel (2020).
From: Troedel, The Melbourne album: containing a series of views of Melbourne & country districts : respectfully dedicated to, and patronized by His Excellency Sir Charles Darling, K.C.B. by the lithographer and publisher, Charles Troedel : 73, Collins Street, E. Melbourne
References:
Butler, Printed Images in Colonial Australia 1801-1901 : p.167-172.
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 17322
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney, 1987 : 262a.
Collections:
National Gallery Victoria: 1365-5
National Library Australia: Bib ID 2980263
State Library Victoria: Accession no: H1674
