Item #CL205-6 Millers Point Sydney, From The Flag Staff Hill. John Skinner Prout, 1805–1876 Brit.
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Millers Point Sydney, From The Flag Staff Hill

1842. Tinted lithograph with added hand-colouring, signed in image lower right, title in lower margin, 18.3 x 26.9cm. Slight foxing, discolouration. In 19th century frame.

This image is from Prout’s 1842 publication Sydney Illustrated.

Born in Plymouth, England, Skinner Prout was a nephew of renowned watercolourist Samuel Prout. On 3 December 1838, in London, Prout became a member of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours. He emigrated to Australia with his family, arriving in Sydney on 14 December 1840. Prout brought with him a lithographic press which was unusual at the time and enabled him to set up the business, J. S. Prout and Co. Australian Lithographic Establishment. Between 1840 and 1844, Prout toured and sketched the districts around Sydney. Prout “followed the route of many artists of the period, journeying west across the Blue Mountains towards Bathurst, south to Broulee and the Illawarra district, and north to Newcastle and Port Stephens. Returning from these travels, Prout would work up his sketches into finished works in lithographs, watercolour and oil paint for sale. Whilst Prout was a resident in Sydney he held exhibitions and presented lectures on the technique of drawing and painting in watercolour. His watercolours sold well and he produced a series of lithographic views of the colony, a number of which were in the 1842 publication Sydney illustrated.”

In 1844 Prout and his family moved to Tasmania to improve his economic circumstances where he became more successful under the patronage of the Governor Sir John Franklin and his wife. He gave many public lectures, which were well-received. “It was largely owing to Prout’s efforts that on January 6, 1845, the first exhibition of pictures [by many artists, including Prout] held in Australia, was opened in the Legislative Council Chamber, Hobart Town.” He returned to England in 1848 and “exhibited his work on life in the Australian colonies, and lectured on convicts, bushrangers and Aboriginals. In the 1850s he produced illustrated handbooks detailing his travels in Australia.” Ref: Wiki; The Mercury (Hobart), 22.8.1931.

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Item #CL205-6

Price (AUD): $1,350.00  other currencies

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