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View of Brisbane (in 1851) 1862

Artwork View of Brisbane (in 1851) this artwork made of Watercolour and gouache over pencil on wove paper, created in 1862-01-01
Accession No.
1:0128
Date Created
1862
Gallery location
Not on public display
Department
Australian Art
Dimensions A
31.8 x 51.3 cm
Media Category
Painting
Secondary Media Category
watercolour
Medium
Watercolour and gouache over pencil on wove paper
Credit Line
Gift of Leonard Darwin 1913

In 1833 Conrad Martens left England and when his ship called at Rio de Janeiro he heard that the British scientific vessel, HMS Beagle, required an artist. Martens secured the post and eventually arrived in Sydney in 1835.

Martens achieved immediate and enduring recognition as the most proficient landscape artist in the Australian colonies but a severe economic depression inspired him to go north to Brisbane in late 1851 in search of work. Martens travelled from Brisbane across the Great Dividing Range to the Darling Downs, then south again through New England to Sydney.

In 1862 Martens sent this painting to Charles Darwin, his former shipmate on HMS Beagle, to mark the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859.
 

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Stories featuring this object

An oil painting of a landscape with a winding river
BRISBANE IN PICTURES

Brisbane: THEN

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Exhibitions featuring this object

Kenneth Macqueen / Australia NSW 1897 - 1960 / Harvesting scene (detail) c.1956 / Watercolour over pencil on wove paper / Purchased 1956 / Collection: QAGOMA / © QAGOMA / A watercolour landscape depicting rolling fields in shades of green and yellow, with hills in the background shadowed by clouds.

‘Watercolour in Queensland’

Mar 2014 - Jul 2014

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