Robertson, Andrew (active 1860-80; Australian?)
Melbourne from the Flagstaff Hill. With Key, 1853
Watercolour on buff paper, 16.5 x 18.1 cm (watercolour); and ink on cream paper, 18 x 26 cm (key)
Presented by the artist, 1880
State Library of Victoria (H273 & H274)

Robertson, who also produced wood engravings for the local press (for examples, see SLV catalogue), is noted in Joan Kerr’s Dictionary (1992) as “in charge of the litho-room in the Melbourne Department of Crown Lands in 1860.” The same reference suggests that the present watercolour may have been based on earlier sketches by the artist (1853 possibly being the date he arrived in Australia).

The key, on a separate sheet, identifies St Peter’s church (in the distance, to the left), and various other buildings and city streets.

See also * Scurry (?) View from Flagstaff Hill 1853 {1884} Loc? [DR], an unidentified drawing of the same subject, also dated 1853, evidently a different work.

Refs.

AR 1880, p.74; NGV 1894, p.117 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 3rd bay, no.67); NGV 1905, p.133 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 3rd bay, no. 47) 

See SLV online catalogue entry (with details and reproduction; also reproducing the key

For Robertson, see Kerr Dictionary (1992), p.675, and https://www.daao.org.au/bio/andrew-robertson/biography/ (updated 2011), citing the 1907 NGV catalogue