A fine suite of five watercolours of colonial Australian scenes, including sympathetic depictions of Indigenous people
The uniform series, in watercolour and ink, are attractively matted (four with arched tops), framed and glazed; visible image size 218 × 149 mm (three items), 162 × 225 mm, and 120 × 195 mm; a couple of trifling spots of foxing to two pictures; essentially in fine condition.
All five images are initialled 'S.T.G.' and titled by the artist. The titles are: 1. 'Native Cherry Tree, Victoria', featuring an Aboriginal man reclining in the foreground, overlooking a picturesque valley with other Aboriginal figures. 2. 'Shepherds Out Station Nr Mt Horrocks - North Station', showing a rustic hut with a settler woman in and child in the doorway, apparently in conversation with a seated Aboriginal man. Gill spent the early part of his career in South Australia, and painted numerous scenes in the north of the colony, including around Mt Horrocks. He accompanied John Horrocks on his ill-fated expedition in 1846. 3. 'Gum Trees', showing three Aboriginal figures near a river bank. 4. 'Stringy Bark Tree', showing woodcutters at work in a forest setting, with a bullock dray at the rear. 5. 'Grass Tree', showing a xanthorrhoea and group of kangaroos. Several of these pictures depict scenes from Gill's early period in South Australia, but stylistic considerations lead us to conclude they were painted later, perhaps in the 1850s or 1860s. [5 items].
Item #132553
Price (AUD):
$35,000.00