Augustus Earle: Travel Artist
National Library of Australia, 157 pp
Artist Abroad
The collection of 161 drawings and watercolour paintings by Augustus Earle now in the possession of the National Library of Australia consitutes the greater part of his work to have survived and is, all things considered, the most impressive single component of the Nan Kivell Collection. The son of an American painter and loyalist, James Earl, the young Augustus Earle (born 1793) studied at the Royal Academy London, and developed considerable talent as an artist in portraiture, figure, and landscape painting. At an early age he also developed a disposition for travel and by the time of his death in 1838 was one of the most widely-travelled artists of his time, having visited the Mediterranean, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, the Pacific Islands, South-east Asia, and India. One of the last of the travelling artists to work extensively in the days prior to the introduction of photography, Earle’s work constitutes an invaluable record of life on many of the frontiers of European expansion. Because his training was an all-round one he has left us not only a varied picture of exotic landscape but also many vivid illustrations of colonial life, and of native life and custom in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.
Continue reading for only $10 per month. Subscribe and gain full access to Australian Book Review. Already a subscriber? Sign in. If you need assistance, feel free to contact us.
Leave a comment
If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.
If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.
Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.