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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Denis Joachim Collection
• Sale Date:
  19 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 1: Lots 1 - 321
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 10am - Session 2: Lots 322 - 480
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 3: Lot 481 - 688
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 6pm - Session 4: Lots 689 - 818
• Lot #:
  231
• Lot Description:
  Gill, Samuel Thomas. The Australian Sketchbook. By S.T.G. Printed in Colours & Published by Hamel & Ferguson
  Oblong folio, illustrated chromolithographed title-page (verso blank) and 24 chromolithographs, each in a window mount, in a calf box. Melbourne, Hamel & Ferguson, [1865].
• Notes:
  Gill’s last and most renowned work, published after Gill had returned to Melbourne in 1864, this fine album, depicting in his characteristic style the life of the settlers and Aborigines, is widely considered to be his masterpiece. The twenty-four plates display the full range of Gill’s artistic interests. There are no urban scenes in this collection but Gill’s characteristic rural themes are all represented: the goldfields, the Aborigines, scenes of drama in the bush – whether bushrangers or lost children – as well as outback scenes of a more mundane or even pathetic nature such as “Bush Funeral” and “Native Sepulchre”, all drawn with Gill’s unfailing sense of irony and his eye for detail. Some have even seen in this work a “poignant comparison throughout between the life of the Aborigines and that of the settlers” (Wettenhall). Unlike all Gill’s earlier plate books this final and most mature work was published in a grand oblong folio format in a style comparable to the great plate books of Nicholas Chevalier and Eugen von Guérard published in the same decade. Gill’s Australian Sketchbook is also a departure from Gill’s other publications in being printed in colours by the newly-introduced technique of chromolithography. It was only the second album of chromolithographs to be published in Australia, following Nicholas Chevalier’s album published by Troedel earlier in the same year. Of the two works, the Australian Sketchbook, with its occasional highlights of hand-applied colour, is recognised as the more delicate and successful use of the medium. Bowden p.126; Ferguson, 9924f; Wantrup, 251; Wettenhall, 110.
• Estimate:
  A$5,000 - 8,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Books & Manuscripts

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