Early Australian + International Art - 2

< > 
William Swainson, 1789-1855. 
Three rare early Australian botanical studies

William Swainson was given the post of Botanical Surveyor by the Victorian Government in 1852 and completed his report in 1853.

Bannana Tree in Fruit, Ash Island, River Hunter, Australia, 1851 (left) 
Pencil on Paper.
Signed and dated lower left and titled lower right.
21.5 x 16 cm 

$745 incl GST

Casuarina prisilla, Dandenong, Port Phillip, Victoria, circa 1852 (centre)
Pencil on green paper.
Initialed and inscribed with foliage description and title.
19 x 12.5 cm. Tipped in titled sheet 26.5 x 21 cm.
This work is framed in a Birdseye maple frame, 38 x 31 cm. 

$845 incl GST

Cabbage Palm, Ash Island, NSW, 1851 (right)
Pencil on Paper.
Signed and dated lower left and titled lower right.
27.5 x 22 cm.

$685 incl GST
Bernard Albinus
Bernard Albinus (German 1697-1770)
Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles of the Human Body, 1749 

These artworks are rare original engraved plates from Bernard Siegfried Albinus’s (1697–1770) Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles of the Human Body, printed in London by H. Woodfall, for John and Paul Knapton in 1749.

Bernard Albinus was a native of Frankfurt, Germany, where he became Professor of Anatomy at the University of Leiden at the early age of 24. He studied the human body and in collaboration with the artist Jan Wandelaar (1647–1759) made the renown anatomical drawings from human specimens which were to create his place in medical history. They devised a method for the transfer of the accurate and proportional images of anatomy to drawings by using two nets, or grids, of small chords. The number of plates in the book totalled fifty, taking Albinus and artist-engraver Jan Wandelaar over eight years to complete. Their efforts have without doubt produced some of the most precise drawings of the human body ever published, and arguably some of the most beautiful plates in the history of engraving.

These copper-plate engravings came from a set of plates collected by Dr John Thomson M.D., in Naples, Italy, in 1853 and presented to his brother J. W. Thomson of Melbourne, Australia.

Contact gallery to discuss which pieces are available.
​Prices from $450 Incl. GST
Menpes
Mortimer Menpes
Australian 1855-1938
Dorothy, England
​Mixed media on board
Signed lower right
56 x 47 cm in original framing and with original silk mount. The frame is a late eighteenth/early nineteenth century hand carved and gilded wooden frame.
Illustrated: Menpes, World's Children, Black and Co, London 1903.
$14,500
* An important published work of his daughter by this highly important artist.


Knut Bull Australian portrait
 KNUT GEELMUYDEN BULL (Australian 1811-1889) 
Portrait of William Watchorn (1797-1854), circa 1850. 
Oil on board.
31 x 23.5cm 
In original musk frame constructed by Robin Hood, the Hobart frame maker.
Sitters name on old label verso.

PROVENANCE: 
Deutscher-Menzies, Melbourne, May 1st, 2002 (part lot 51) where attributed to Robert Dowling (1827-1886), and where subject identified (erroneously) as James William Henry Walch (1788-1852) 

LITERATURE: 
Artist in Early Australia and Their Portraits, Eve Buscombe, Eureka Research, Sydney, 1978, pp.291 & 291.1 (illus.) where attributed variously to Thomas Bock, Knut Bull and Robert Dowling.
 
A photograph of this portrait is held in the collection of the State Library of Tasmania at, Image Number:PH30-1-1598.

$8,800 incl GST
​
William Watchorn was the proprietor of Watchorn's Store, Liverpool Street, Hobart. He and his wife Susannah emigrated to Tasmania in 1825. Watchorn's Store (also trading as Wellington Stores) was established soon after. A lithograph of Watchorn's Stores dated 1834 is attributed to Thomas Bock.
 
This painting was confirmed as being by Knut Bull in discussions about this painting and its various attributions with the late David Hansen (who was the recognised expert on early Australian portraiture) in 2023. David noted that Nevin Hurst had discussed the work with him and they both had agreed that all the attributes of Knut Bull’s work could be found in it. Of particular note David felt was the hands and Bull’s lack of talent in painting them as the fingers usually looked like thick sausages! Nevin Hirst lists the work by Knut Bull in a valuation dated 2021.

For a related work see Deutscher & Hackett 28th April 2010, lot 103 (illus.), watercolour of Willaim Watchorn attributed to Knut Bull. This artwork is now held in the collection of Allport Library and Museum of Fine Art, Tasmania and was purchased from Chris Day Gallery, Sydney in 2010.
Aubusson Tapestry
A Flemish Aubusson Tapestry, circa 1700
270 x 220 cm

​
Thomas Woolner Bronze
Thomas Woolner (1825-1892)
Doctor Godfrey Howitt, 1853
Signed and dated lower centre, T. Woolner. Sc. 1853.
Bronze in original frame.
22cm diameter. Framed 26cm diameter.
 
Excellent original untouched condition with fine patina and detail

​$16,500 incl GST


Doctor Howitt arrived with his family on the ship Lord Goderich in April 1840 and was to have a large influence on the emerging colony of Victoria. In central Melbourne Howitt erected the prefabricated wooden cottage he had brought from England, and by 1845 his land extended from Collins Street to Flinders Lane with a frontage to Spring Street where he made a large garden. He also had pastoral interests near Yea and Cape Schanck and a farm at Caulfield.

Howitt was associated early with the Melbourne Hospital. In 1847 he became president and honorary physician of the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum and joined the new Port Phillip Medical Association. In 1853-71 he served on the Council of the University of Melbourne and on the Medical School Committee. In 1854-55 he was first vice-president of the Philosophical Society of Victoria and a member of its successor, the Royal Society of Victoria, in 1859-68.
R E Minchin
Richard Ernest Minchin (1831-1893)
Mouth of the Murray From Hindmarsh Island, circa 1860
Pen, ink and watercolour
8.5 cm
SOLD
​* The large sandhill to the left of the image is Barkers Knoll which disappeared in the mid 19th century. See Art Gallery of South Australia for other related works.

landscape frame
A Nineteenth Century landscape in lovely gold frame with verre eglomise decoration to glass
Outer frame dimensions: 45.5 x 53.5 cm
​$750 incl GST
Picture
George Cruikshank (UK 1792-1878)
Probable Effects of Over Female Emigration, circa 1851 Hand-coloured etching 
15 x 39 cm 
$1,250 incl GST

  * A rare humorous satirical print directly related to colonial Australia which was issued with The Comic Almanac for 1851.
Moghul miniatures
A pair of 19th Century Moghul miniatures depicting
Mirza Moghul (1817-1855) and Prince Jewan Basket
Each miniature approximately 2.5cm width
These finely painted small artworks were exhibited at the the Pakistani Embassy, Canberra in 1969 and are Illustrated in 
​A Perspective in History and Art from Ancient Times, Pakistan. 1969, p.50.                              
$750 the pair incl GST
RT Ross
A naïve drawing of The Dancing Lesson by R.T. Ross, A.R.S.A.
Watercolour
Inscribed and dated 1866
13 x 14 cm
Price: $280 ​Incl. GST
Thomas Worlidge
Thomas Worlidge (English 1700 - 1766)
A group of 18th Century Engravings of Gems from various nobleman's collections. England 1768
29 x 32 cm (framed)
Price: $280 each Incl. GST
* others available
Pierre Auguste Renoir
Pierre Auguste Renoir (French 1841 - 1819)
​Sur la Plage, a Berneval
Etching
Signed in the plate
14 x 9.5 cm
$1,250 incl GST

old master drawing
An early Old Master pen and ink drawing.
21 x 13 cm
signed lower left
$275 incl GST
< >