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C1803
View of Sydney, on the South Side of Norfolk Island.
Artist:
One of the earliest views of Norfolk Island by Thomas Watling who was the only competent artist in the colony at the time. From David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales. Collins arrived on the First … Read Full Description
$A 325
S/N: TECI-PI-NI-019–305334
(C009)
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Details
Full Title:
View of Sydney, on the South Side of Norfolk Island.
Date:
C1803
Artist:
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured copper engraving.
Image Size:
245mm
x 175mm
Paper Size:
272mm
x 210mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1803
Description:
One of the earliest views of Norfolk Island by Thomas Watling who was the only competent artist in the colony at the time.
From David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales. Collins arrived on the First Fleet and was one of the founders of the penal colony at Port Jackson as judge-advocate, Collins was responsible, under the governor, for the colony’s entire legal establishment.Â
References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 263 -350.
Crittenden, V. A Bibliography Of The First Fleet. ACT 1982 69 & 70.
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 335.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 2284639
State Library New South Wales: Q79/60 v. 1
State Library Victoria: RARELTF 919.44 C69A
Thomas Watling (1762 - 1806)
Watling was a convict and artist, born in Dumfries, his parents died during his infancy and he was brought up by a maiden aunt. His education, which was well above average, obviously included a thorough grounding in art and eventually he formed his own 'academy'. In 1788 he was charged with forging guinea notes on the Bank of Scotland. He denied his guilt, but rather than risk conviction and execution he asked to be transported and was sentenced to fourteen years. In July 1791 Watling was one of 410 convicts who sailed in the convict transport the Pitt for New South Wales. He escaped at Cape Town, but was soon arrested by the Dutch, imprisoned and taken aboard the Royal Admiral, in which he reached Sydney on 7 October 1792. He appears to have been assigned almost immediately to the surgeon-general, John White, an ardent naturalist, who made extensive use of his artistic skill. When White left the colony in December 1794 it is thought that Watling may have been assigned to the judge-advocate, David Collins.  Watling's prospects improved with the arrival of Governor John Hunter, himself an enthusiastic and able artist. Within a year, in September 1796 Watling was given a conditional pardon and on 5 April 1797 it was made absolute. While in the colony Watling had a son, presumably by a convict woman, and when he left Sydney he took the child with him. From 1801 to 1803 he lived in Calcutta, earning a precarious living as a miniature painter. He returned to Scotland and on 10 January 1806 was tried at Edinburgh for a series of forgeries allegedly committed at Dumfries between November 1804 and March 1805. He was discharged on a verdict of 'not proven'. Later he moved with his son to London where, in indigent circumstances and suffering from cancer of the left breast, he applied to Hunter, now an admiral, for help and received some assistance from members of the Royal Academy. Neither the date nor place of his death are known. Ref: Source ADB
