Summers, Charles (1827-78; English/Australian) Seal of the Victorian Exhibition 1862 Copper, 10 cm diameter Acquired by 1865 Museums Victoria, NU 18367 (transferred from the NGV, March 1976) The work reproduced here is described by Museums Victoria as a pressing of the official seal for the 1862 International Exhibition, London, showing the Colony of Victoria as
Hart, Walter (details unknown), after Cook, Albert Charles (1836-1902; English/Australian) St Phillip’s Church, East Collingwood 1866 Wood engraving Acquired 1868 State Library of Victoria (?) (IAN27/08/66/12) This print, published in the Australian news for home readers, 27 August 1866, shows the recently-constructed Gothic Revival church designed by Lloyd Taylor (1830-1900). The church was later destroyed
NB both the NGV and SLV provide over-arching messages concerning Aboriginal images, advising that deceased people may be represented, that care has been taken to avoid including images of a sensitive nature, and that terms and conditions concerning any work may have been imposed by Indigenous communities. Similar advice and provisos apply to works in
Chronologically, the pre-Felton era corresponds, more or less, with the first phase of modernism, as generally understood by cultural historians. Richard Brettall, for instance, in his Oxford History of Art volume Modern Art 1851-1929 (1999), argues that the Great Exhibition of 1851 ushered in the era of modernity, exemplified not only by the remarkable iron and
One of the pre-Felton sculptures de-accessioned in the 1940s was a marble group by British sculptor George Halse, called Advance, Australia. Carved in 1865 and donated to the NGV in 1891, it encapsulates the idea of colonial Australia as a naïve adolescent venturing out from under the protective embrace of Britannia “into the clear open
Melbourne architect Joseph Reed (c.1823-90) won the competition for the Melbourne Public Library in 1854, and the original building (the main section of the existing west façade on Swanston Street) was built in stages through to 1864; see also Queen’s Hall. A more grandiose domed scheme for the entire block by Reed (1859) did not
NB both the NGV and SLV provide over-arching messages concerning Aboriginal images, advising that deceased people may be represented, that care has been taken to avoid including images of a sensitive nature, and that terms and conditions concerning any work may have been imposed by Indigenous communities. Similar advice and provisos apply to all works
As mentioned under Introductory Remarks, this catalogue aims to provide as complete as possible an account of the NGV collection as it had evolved by 1904. In the spirit of full disclosure, though, a few exceptions to this rule are noted below. [photo: “Nelson’s teapot,” made in Sheffield, c.1790. NGV (875-D1M) (donated by Frederic Tate
Queen Victoria, who reigned for 64 years (1837-1901), was a strong presence in the pre-Felton gallery, although she never visited Australia. Several images of her and her family were held in the collection, and in 1893 she donated a fascinating group of etchings made by herself and Prince Albert in the 1840s. Works by a
[photo: Picture Gallery, Melbourne Public Library, 1865] Preliminary note on dates and labels The descriptive labels typically attached to many of the artworks included in this catalogue – “Victorian,” Colonial and so on – tend to imply a sort of old-fashioned or preliminary character, compared with followed. This may be so, but it’s also worth