The day after my post ABC SouthEast SA had an article on Blue Lake with a view I hadn’t seen before. It seems an aerial view (not available to 1840s artists of course). I need to reevaluate my “scene” identification. Fresh evidence needs fresh analysis. #MountGambier #SouthAustralia #S_T_Gill

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-11/mount-gambier-blue-lake-bay-road-closure-proposal/102711874

The Art Gallery of South Australia has lately put online a few more artworks by colonial artist George French Angas.

"Extinct Crater, Mount Gambier, 6th May 1844" is one I'd written about (from a book image in B&W). Seeing it in colour supports my contention that "Blue Lake" is by Gill not Angas (and it is not Blue Lake).

Article (with 8+ pictures) | The Mount Gambier pictures of Gill and Angas (and von Guerard) | https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_Subject_Mount_Gambier.htm

#AGSAAdelaide #MountGambier #ArtHistory #ColonialArt #S_T_Gill #1840s #ArtHistoryAU #ColonialArtAU

Seven years into my study of Australian colonial artist S T Gill, I've been getting more frequent enquiries about works for sale. I'd responded up till now but now felt I needed to set a better boundary.

I'm a retired systems designer. My motivation for the Gill project is to contribute to knowledge commons and the public good – hence the near exclusive focus on works held by public collecting institutions. This keeps me busy enough. (Web site now updated to that effect.)

As it's the first day of the month, here's Gill's "August": https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill's_The_Seasons_and_The_Months.htm#133

#CitizenHumanities #ColonialArt #S_T_Gill #ColonialArtAU

"Grit & Gold" exhibition at NLA has this 1880 painting of kangaroo hunting https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134158742/view. Its familiarity took me by surprise. It's clearly based on George French Angas's 1847 print, which in turn seems based on the original art of Samuel Thomas Gill.
My analysis: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/George_French_Angas_in_London_and_S_T_Gill.htm#101
#ColonialArtAU #S_T_Gill

Here's Port Adelaide in the 1840s.

Use the interactive map to see the port from the (literal) points of view of colonial artists. Overlaid on an historical map.

I've just updated this map - first developed in 2020 - with new content and a nicer "feel". (Best with computer or tablet, not phone.)

#PortAdelaide #SouthAustralia #1840s #HistoryAU #HistoricalMapping #uMap #ArtHistoryAU #S_T_Gill

Link via: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_in_Maps.htm#Port%20Adelaide

NEW ARTICLE: S.T. Gill 1848

* My first project article since November
* Extending the narrative and catalogue of the colonial artist
* Australia's first major industrial strike
* Economic downturn
* Start of Gill's foray into prints with Adelaide arrival of lithographers Penman & Co.
* 2nd Adelaide Exhibition of Colonial Artists
* Controversial discovery: E.L. Montefiore mispresents Conrad Martens artworks as his own?

#HistoryAU #SouthAustralia #S_T_Gill #1840s #ArtHistoryAU #CatalogueRaisonné #ArtHistory

https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_1848.htm

Turns out there was economic depression in 1848 (Britain) and it would have affected demand for art. (Having written about the downturn in the 1849 chapter I should have remembered this!)

To get a further handle on its impact I used @wragge's QueryPic - thanks Tim! - to graph use of the word "depression" in - in this case - South Australian newspapers from 1839 to 1851.

The graph's October 1848 peak is really obvious. Also shows the late 1840s copper boom and December 1851 gold rush.

Tool: https://glam-workbench.net/trove-newspapers/#querypic (You'll need a TroveAPI key.)

Image: frequency chart of "depression" mentions in South Australian newspapers from 1839 to 1851.

#HistoryAU #ArtHistoryAU #S_T_Gill #SouthAustralia #GLAMWorkbench #TroveAU

Research project update: colonial artist S.T. Gill

It's 7 months since the last article in my Gill project. Much of that time I had a welcome break. But I was also wrestling with how to finish the last 10-20% of the cataloguing of artworks. My research database had evolved over 6 years but now felt a bit cumbersome. Starting from my early ignorance I now know what I'm doing :-) So the last month I've been remaking my database. I think it will make the project much easier to finish.

There's plenty of interesting material already and you can have a browse at
https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/.

#S_T_Gill

Murray River crayfish are in the news today.
Known as eukodko / ukodko Aboriginal women would catch them in Murray floodwaters by walking together in a close line.
Documented by E.J. Eyre, sketched by George Hamilton and painted 1844-45 by S.T. Gill.
See my Gill project (read, view pictures): https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill,_E_J_Eyre,_Symmetry_1844.htm#45
#S_T_Gill #AboriginalCulture #MurrayRiver #RiverMurray #SouthAustralia #ColonialArtAU

A few weeks ago SLNSW's old catalogue records failed linking to their "Digital version of this item". That's fair enough as the new catalogue has been developed and run in parallel for a few years. I had procrastinated transitioning my project from the old to new catalogue for 126 #S_T_Gill artworks. In hand now and should finish this tomorrow.
#StateLibraryNSW

You can search for a map by place name but often you want to search by zooming around a map. (Like using your phone to find something “near me”.) You can find paintings that way in my #S_T_Gill project. And you may be familiar with this for (rectified) maps in #MapWarper / #PROVmapWarper.

Tim Sherratt https://hcommons.social/@wragge has just built this finder map for maps in Trove. This is an excellent complement to Trove itself. A date range filter would enhance it, but I’m already using it today.

#GLAMWorkbench #TroveAu #Trove #HistoricalMapping

https://glam-workbench.net/trove-maps/trove-map-clusters.html

It’s February!

Image: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134354667/view

#S_T_Gill 1847, #Adelaide, South Australia

My research: http://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill's_The_Seasons_and_The_Months.htm#127

#ArtHistoryAU

This morning I came across this 1840s watercolour of Government House, Adelaide in the State Library SA collection. It's attributed to Governor George Gawler as the artist, but I think it's actually by S T Gill and it's nearly identical to another Gill held by Art Gallery SA.

SLSA: https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+50/34/1
AGSA: https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/government-house-north-terrace-adelaide/24134/

#Adelaide #StateLibrarySA #AgsaAdelaide #ArtHistoryAU #1840s #S_T_Gill

Thread in my Head

My seemingly random posts are a thread in my head. 1840s. 1. Portrait has a scar tree! 2. Other scar tree painting is a canoe tree at Moorundie (below Blanchetown). 3. A parallel sketch does not show this canoe tree. 4. Is there other artistic or photographic evidence of this particular canoe tree (or was artistic licence taken)? 5. Finding, mapping and dating Moorunde images. 6. 1845 sketch found with either wrong title, date or artist (because he was elsewhere at the time). 8. Brain needs a rest.
Not sure I have enough firm data for good mapping.
To be continued…
#S_T_Gill #1840s #CanoeTree

Serendipitous (and off-track) find this morning in this book of excellent sketches of Melbourne mostly around 1880 - artist Louis Buvelot's house (mistitled). (The sketcher got the surname wrong and the catalogue followed.) In 1880 Buvelot was at 13 George Street, Fitzroy. Note in front says sketcher's dispute with #StateLibraryVIC led to the book eventually ending up in #StateLibraryNSW! (Buvelot owned several paintings by my research subject #S_T_Gill.)
#ArtHistoryAU #MelbourneHistory #Fitzroy
Browse sketchbook online: https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/1wN2WZjn and see image 20.

Currently researching this portrait of John Horrocks - you may know him as "the only explorer to be shot by his camel". Notice anything unusual?

This is a 19th century photo of a no longer known painting. Could it be by S.T. Gill? Historical context being researched with SLSA and, as always, via Trove and other digitised and undigitised resources.

SLSA B 17027 / view: https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+17027

#SouthAustralia #StateLibrarySouthAustralia #1840s #ArtHistoryAU #ColonialArt #S_T_Gill #TroveAU

Currently researching this intriguing portrait of John Horrocks - you may know him as "the only explorer to be shot by his camel". Notice anything odd?

This is a 19th century photo of a no longer known painting. Could it be by S.T. Gill?

Historical context being researched with SLSA and, as always, via Trove and other digitised and undigitised resources.

SLSA B 17027 / view: https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+17027

#SouthAustralia #StateLibrarySouthAustralia #1840s #ArtHistoryAU #ColonialArt #S_T_Gill #TroveAU

Gourd its January!

Detail from: "January" by #S_T_Gill (NLA R3293)

Read / see more: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill's_The_Seasons_and_The_Months.htm#126

Annual horse races were held on New Year's Day in #Adelaide in the 1840s.

Link to 1845 sketch by #S_T_Gill and interactive map: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_and_James_Allen_1845.htm#12

@RTNoftheMackell "It's Joe here" in H.M.S. Goal. #GravyDay #S_T_Gill
https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill's_Set_of_South_Australian_Scenes_Bennett.htm#113