Lot #1184 - Conrad Martens
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Auction House:Leski Auctions
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Sale Name:Australian & Historical
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Sale Date:03 Dec 2022 ~ Session 1 (Lots 1 - 670) 10am (AEDT)
04 Dec 2022 ~ Session 2 (Lots 671 - 1277) 10am (AEDT) -
Lot #:1184
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Lot Description:Conrad Martens
(1801-1878)
(One of the falls on the Apsley), circa 1873
watercolour and bodycolour on board
27 x 41cm; framed 40.5 x 54cm overall
signed lower right -
Provenance:The Joyce Evans estate.
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Notes:Explorer John Oxley first described the Apsley Falls, New South Wales, in September 1818, writing in his journal that he was ‘lost in astonishment at the sight of this wonderful natural sublimity’ and that ‘it is impossible to form a correct idea of the wild magnificence of the scenery without the pencil of a Salvator. Such a painter would here find an ample field for the exercise of his genius’. By the time Conrad Martens visited the falls in 1852, they were a renowned sight. Martens produced three different paintings of falls on the Apsley during the following two decades. A detailed pencil study, The Apsley at Waterloo, shows that the dramatic rock formations are the real focus of the work. Martens’ interest in geology was of long standing. A South American sketchbook by him exists containing views of mountains, valleys and coastal profiles taken in 1834 while he was on board the survey ship the Beagle, and it is recorded that he had borrowed Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology from Charles Darwin before the voyage began. A related work of identical size, being the same view from a slightly different angle (titled The Tia Falls, Northern New South Wales), was sold by Sotheby’s (Sydney) in August 2011 for $60,000 (including buyer’s premium). Another version, titled as above, is in the NGV collection.
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Estimate:A$20,000 - 30,000
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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.
