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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Fine Australian & International Art
• Sale Date:
  02 May 2016 ~ 6.30pm - Part 1 - Lots 1 - 47
  03 May 2016 ~ 2.30pm - Part 2 - Lots 48 - 320
• Lot #:
  10
• Lot Description:
  Haughton Forrest
  (1826-1925)
  A Welsh Lake
  oil on canvas
  72 x 112 cm
  signed lower left: H Forrest
• References:
  This work is to be included in the forthcoming publication: Ayling, G. et. al., Haughton Forrest (1826-1925) Biography, Catalogue and Gallery of Paintings, 4th edition, 2017, The Forrest Project, cat. no. HF2.4.4.009
• Notes:
  A somewhat neglected figure, Captain Haughton Forrest was part of a small group of mature English artists - including Benjamin Duterrau and John Glover - who permanently settled in Tasmania in the mid- to late-nineteenth century and saw their art blossom. Forrest arrived in Hobart in 1876, at the age of forty-nine, full of worldly experience. His early life had been shaped by sojourns of varying durations in France, Germany, England, Germany, Jamaica, Panama and Brazil. Unlike Glover and Duterrau, who were both London-trained and exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy, Forrest was not a professional artist. He was described as one who 'loved the sea, spent a great deal of his time yachting and painting marine subjects. He had never had a lesson in his life but is said to have painted since he was four years old.'1 The idea of the self-taught artist has no doubt both dignified his work with 'genius' and at the same time positioned it in the league of a dilettante. Just a few months after arriving in Hobart, Forrest was already exhibiting two paintings in a shop in Elizabeth Street. They were well received by a local reviewer who, whilst acknowledging that they were the work of an amateur artist, found the drawing to be 'exceedingly good É [and] in most other respects the picture is excellent, and both of them are worthy of inspection by lovers of art.'2 The reasons behind Forrest's local appeal was two-fold. Firstly, the paintings were accessible and easy to read, their sense of calm and natural beauty, informed by the notions of the Picturesque. His large canvasses, such as A Welsh Lake and Fishing in Lake Country represent images of mankind overwhelmed by nature's sublime beauty, even if they are presented with an overall sense of serenity. Secondly, Forrest was a master of Nostalgia. Not only did his works often represent romantic sunset landscapes, but for many they were reminders of the 'Mother Land' from whence they once came - they were tangible reminders of their past lives. For the typical mid-nineteenth century English settler, home was geographically diverse, socially and economically disparate, and physically remote. The invention of black and white photography could only go so far in capturing the essence of any landscape. Forrest's painting were large scale reminders, in colour, of the splendours of home.3 Although Forrest probably brought a number of paintings when he immigrated to Tasmania, in Tasmania he was met with a ready demand for more images of the British Isles. Although Forrest's work is often admired for its photographic qualities, his paintings were much more than objective transcriptions of particular views. For his contemporary patrons, and to some extent for the twenty-first century viewer, they represent a sentimental window into the romantic past of the dramatic English landscape. Finely painted and in good condition, A Welsh Lake and Fishing in Lake Country have been in the one private collection for circa on hundred years and present an excellent opportunity to own two exquisite examples by the self-taught Tasmanian master. We gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance of Mr Geoff Ayling AM in cataloguing these works. Petrit Abazi 1 Launceston Examiner, Launceston, 9 March 1927, cited in Bruce Johnson ed., Captain Haughton Forrest, The Fine Arts Committee, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1976, p. 4. 2 'New Pictures', The Mercury, Hobart, 19 October, 1876, p. 2. 3 The inverse was also true, for there was a high demand in London for Forrest's remotely set Tasmanian landscapes.
• Estimate:
  A$18,000 - 25,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.