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• Auction House:
  Bonhams Australia
• Sale Name:
  Important Australian Art
• Sale Date:
  22 Apr 2021 ~ 6.30pm (AEST)
• Lot #:
  36
• Lot Description:
  Frederick Strange
  (1807-1873)
  View from Windmill Hill showing River Tamar North Esk, Launceston Bridge and George Town Road, 1848
  watercolour and pencil on paper
  20.5 x 32.5cm (8 1/16 x 12 13/16in).
  inscribed verso: 'View from Windmill Hill showing "River Tamar" North Esk / Launceston Bridge and George Town Road'
• Provenance:
  Gift of the artist to Juliann Sherlock (1829-1923) and William Henry Lombe (1821-1905); Thence by descent; Private collection, New South Wales
• Notes:
  Convicted of four burglaries on 22 June 1837 at Colchester, England, Frederick Strange was sentenced to transportation for life. After serving several months in England, he was eventually sent to Australia for the remainder of his sentence, arriving in Hobart, Tasmania on 18 January 1838. In the convict records, his profession is listed as 'Portrait and House Painter'.1 Upon receiving an unconditional pardon in 1849 Strange eventually made his way to Launceston and once again pursued a career as a portrait painter, producing a number of accomplished paintings of local citizens. Despite his dishonourable past, however, Strange's most important legacy is undoubtedly his views of Hobart and Launceston. As the Cornwall Chronicle reported in 1859, his topographical pictures are both 'extremely beautiful as well as most delicately executed' and are some of the most important historical records of these developing cities. 2 View from Windmill Hill chronicles in great detail a city with which the artist was intimately familiar, returning time and again to favoured vantage points in order to capture Launceston in all its beauty. The present work was gifted to Julianna Sherlock and William Henry Lombe by the artist for their wedding on 21 December 1848 in Launceston. Julianna was the daughter of Samuel Sherlock (1778-1845) and his second wife, Mary Ann French (1789-1840) whom he married in Launceston on the 30 October 1825. According to research undertaken by a descendent of the family, Reg Sherlock, Samuel Sherlock arrived in Australia in 1806 as a sailor on the 'Fortune' in Governor Bligh's Fleet. He spent some time in New South Wales working on Mary Reiby's ships between Sydney and Tasmania. Reiby had established herself as a well-respected and affluent business woman, continuing to run her late husband's enterprises. In 1817, Sherlock settled in Tasmania and was granted an allotment in Launceston. 1. Yvonne Adkins, The Enigmatic Mr Strange Creating a Past: the life and art of Frederick Strange c.1807-1873, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, 2017, p. 4 2. ibid., p. 9
• Estimate:
  A$15,000 - 20,000
• 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.