Conrad Martens - Forest Scene, Illawarra 1850-1

Brush Scene, Illawarra (Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palm), coloured lithograph, 1850-1.

During 1850-1 Sydney-based English artist Conrad Martens published a series of twenty lithographic prints under the title Sketches in the Environs of Sydney (refer the listing below). One of the works was number #15 entitled Brush Scene, Illawarra (Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palm). Illustrated above, it was based on an original pencil sketch by Martens (illustrated below) taken on 11 July 1835 during a visit to the Illawarra region, located on the coast approximately 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of Sydney. The sketch was dated and labelled Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palms etc. It is presently part of the State Library of New South Wales. Note that in the original pencil sketch the larger tree is on the left, whilst it is on the right in the lithograph. This is a common issue with the lithographic or etching process, whereby an original image is drawn on stone or metal, the ink is applied, and the resulted image on paper is reversed or flipped horizontally.

Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palms etc. July 11th/35, pencil on paper. Collection: State Library of New South Wales.

This scene was obviously a favourite with the artist, as he reproduced it in lithograph, etching, oil and incorporated it into a number of his know Illawarra watercolours. As a student of the Picturesque, Martins favoured the lush, sub-tropical vegetation of the region, in part reminding him of some of the flora encountered in South America during his time with the Beagle expedition and his corresponding encounter there in 1834 with fellow artist J.M. Rugendas.

--------------------

Martens and lithography

Based on the success of the View from St Leonards lithograph he had issued during the late 1840s, Martens decided to proceed with the production of a series of lithographic views based on some of the hundreds of sketches of New South Wales scenes which he had accumulated during the fifteen years since his arrival in July 1835. He acquired a lithographic stone and studied up on the various processes of lithography. Martens' manuscript ‘Notes on Painting' (Dixson Library MS142) for the period 1849-51 contain numerous quotes from contemporary books on lithography as Martens studied the subject, and record the method employed by the artist in producing his subsequent series. The artist carried out his first experiments with the process on 18 December 1849 before adopting a local printer to carry out the work. In an undated (?January 1850) letter to a Miss Morrow in England he noted:

This letter, like most of mine to my friends in England, has been written at intervals, and since the last interval I have made a tolerably successful attempt at lithographs, having a very large number of sketches which will never be made use of in any other way. I intend publishing in numbers of four each. Unfortunately there is no good printer in Sydney and much work remains to be done by me afterwards in order to hide his clumsiness, notwithstanding which I have grand hopes it will pay me well. In the course of a day or two I shall take my first number to the Governor Sir Chas. Fitzroy on whose patronage I confidently reckon as he never fails, when we meet, to say something kind about his brother with whom I sailed.

Charles FitzRoy was the brother of Robert FitzRoy, former commander of the Beagle, upon which vessel Martens had sailed prior to his arrival in Australia. The clumsy printer referred to was J. Allan of Sydney, who in January 1850 helped Martens print the first numbers of his series of lithographs. They were issued with the title Sketches in the Environs of Sydney: being part of a series of sketches intended to illustrate the scenery of New South Wales. The wrapper stated that they had been drawn on stone and tinted by Conrad Martens; printed by J. Allan, Sydney, January, 1850; published by the artist; and sold by W. and F. Ford, W.R. Piddington, W. Moffitt, and all booksellers.

The series was eventually to consist of 20 lithographs, with two types of wrappers (dated January 1850 and July 1851) on variously coloured paper. There were 5 printed pages listing contents and descriptions of individual views. The first set, consisting of four lithographs (with tint, wash, and highlights applied) plus a wrapper and table of contents, was available in February 1850. It is unclear at this stage when the remaining 16 lithographs became available, however the first set was reviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald on 15 February 1850, as follows:

Mr Martens' Sketches of Sydney and Its Environs.

- From a press of other business, we have omitted to notice till now the appearance of the first number of the first part of a series of Sketches which are in the course of publication, illustrative of Sydney and its environs. The sketches are drawn from nature and on stone, by Mr. Conrad Martens, an artist whose works have been too long before the public of Sydney to require much notice at our hands. He has adopted the style of the tinted lithograph; but instead of using a separate stone for the tint and high lights, necessity has compelled him to resort to a method which, while it entails a vast deal of trouble on himself, ensures to the subscribers and purchasers of the work better proofs than could be expected if they issued from the press of a Sydney Lithographic Establishment, without undergoing the revision of the artist. It is not our business to describe the difficult and delicate process of printing from a chalk drawing. It is sufficient to state that the difficulties connected with this branch of the art are so great, that they have never hitherto been successfully overcome in Sydney. Aware of this difficulty, Mr. Martens has determined to conquer it by impressing on himself a task which appears somewhat herculean - he entrusts to the painter the mere black outline of his sketches, while the tint and the lights in every single sketch are the work of the artist's own hands. By this method Mr. Martens has succeeded in producing some pretty effective pieces of Australian scenery, bearing more resemblance to the clearness of English lithographs, than any prints which have issued from a Sydney lithographic establishment.The views in the part which has been published are four in number, viz.:

- 1. The Statue of Sir Richard Bourke at the upper entrance of the Domain; the North Head and Light House in the extreme distance. 2. Government House and Macquarie Fort from the Domain, near the north end of the Botanic Garden. 3. Trees, "Banksia Serrata," on the right of the road to Mrs. Darling's Point. 4. Rocks, called Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, at the extreme end of the Domain.

The first, second, and fourth of these views are agreeable, free, and correct sketches of localities and objects which must be familiar to almost everyone in Sydney. The third, though clever as a sketch of remarkable trees in a romantic neighbourhood, does not possess the same interest to us as the others, and we would advise the artist in his future numbers to confine himself to subjects bearing more of a "local habitation and a name" to the people generally, than the Banksia Serrata at Mrs. Darling's Point. Mr. Martens we are aware will find no difficulty in adopting our suggestion, for his portfolios are well stored with sketches of great variety, selected during a residence of fifteen years in New South Wales. We would also advise him to throw a little more variety into the figures which are introduced into his sketches, for we cannot help thinking that the proper drawing, disposition, and grouping of figures, are of more consequence in communicating life and verisimilitude to a sketch of natural scenery than some landscape painters are wiling to allow.

With these saving clauses, and we introduce them with the full remembrance of Pope's memento, that "Ten censure wrong for one who paints amiss," we have reason to congratulate Mr. Martens on the creditable appearance of his first part. The sketches are clever transcripts of his bold, free, and peculiar manner. The outline of Government House shows how much he can effect with a few strokes of his pencil. There is no elaborate finishing. He merely indicates the general features of the object, and leaves the imagination to fill up the details. He has an excellent idea of contrast, and the gradation of light and shade; and knows the value of crisp lights and strong shadows in the foreground, to throw the middle and extreme distances into their proper places. These sketches are not only valuable to the lovers of art in Sydney and their friends in the mother country, as faithful representations of the scenery in the land in which we live; but they will form excellent copy books to such of the rising generation of Sydney as may be desirous of prosecuting the delightful but much neglected art of drawing, and will no doubt be soon introduced into all schools in the colony where the principles of drawing are taught. We do not mean, nor would Mr. Martens, we are sure, wish, to compare these sketches with the finished and elaborate drawings that issue from the lithographic presses of the mother country; but as clever artistic sketches of Australian scenery, we think they are better suited for copies in Australian schools, than sketches which, with much greater pretensions, afford much less interest to the pupil.

The printing of these lithographs has been well executed by Mr. Allan; and we trust that Mr. Martens' attempt to illustrate the scenery of New South Wales will meet with the liberal encouragement which it deserves.

The first series was well received and deemed successful in Martens' mind, despite the printing problems, however he was soon to encounter more trouble in securing quality paper on which to print subsequent parts. In a letter to his brother Henry, dated 13 September 1850, he noted:

Neither can I get any paper upon which to print my lithographic sketches in all the colonies but I must wait till that arrives from England which I have sent for. Ford only indentures the book and stationary trade nothing whatever about artists' materials.... I am indeed much disheartened about painting. There is no sale for anything in that way. Small drawings and lithographs and teaching have been of late the only way of raising a little cash.

The lithographs reviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald in February 1850 may only have been proofs, and lack of paper supplies held up the official publication of the series, despite the artist's best efforts. It was only on 23 May, 1850, that Martens notes the first sale of six impressions of the small lithographs to a Mr Barber for 10/-. His comments in the letter of 13 September that he could not obtain local supplies of paper to print the small lithographs perhaps accounts for the meagre sales of this series - those copies sold to Mr Barber may indeed have been the only ones, though it is also possible (but unlikely) that Martens did not enter all sales into his account book. The account book entries also raise the possibility that by May 1850 only 6 of the small lithographs had been printed to the artist's satisfaction.

When paper supplies ran out Martens was forced to await the arrival of stock from England, and did not record another sale of the small lithographs until August 1851, shortly after the issue of the second part of the series. With the publication of the small lithographs on the back-burner during the latter half of 1850, Martens looked to securing other avenues of income. In July 1850 he produced a Sketch of Sydney for publishers W. & F. Ford, for inclusion in their Almanac. The commission earned him 1 guinea. In a letter of 5 April 1851, to James Mitchell of Hobart Town, Martens notes:

I am now about collecting subscribers for the next set of Lithographs and disagreeable work it is..... The parson, Clarke I mean,9 has just sent me a specimen of a new kind of lithograph corresponding exactly to mezzotint scraping. I like lithography as an art and my intention at present is to stick to it.

Reverend William Branwhite Clarke, geologist and Church of England minister, was a long-time friend of Martens and parson at his local church, St Thomas's Church, St Leonards, which Martens had helped design and build in 1846-7.

Perhaps the supplies of quality lithographic paper had arrived from England by this time, resulting in his renewed interest in the issuing of the small lithographs. The second part was eventually published in July 1851, with the full set of 20 lithographs supposedly then available. The lithographs were similar to the first edition, with either a cream or grey tint, and various washes and highlights added later by Martens. Some were also sold coloured with watercolour.

The 20 lithographs and new wrapper appeared with the title Sketches Illustrative of the Scenery of New South Wales. We were informed that they had been taken "From Nature and on Stone" by Conrad Martens; printed by J. Allan, Sydney, July 1851; published by the artist; and sold by W. and F. Ford, J.R. Clarke, and all booksellers. Titles of individual lithographs were as follows:

[Set 1, No.1]
1. The Statue of Sir Richard Bourke at the upper entrance of the Domain; the North Head and Light House in the extreme distance.
2. Government House and Macquarie Fort from the Domain, near the north end of the Botanic Garden.
3. Trees, "Banksia Serrata," on the right of the road to Mrs. Darling's Point.
4. Rocks, called Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, at the extreme end of the Domain.

[Set 1, No.2]
5. View of Sydney from near Tivoli.
6. North Head and Entrance to Port Jackson, taken from within.
7. Blue Gum Tree, "Eucalyptus".
8. View in Sydney Harbour, from the Botanic Gardens.

[Set 1, No.3]
9. Entrance to Government House, Sydney.
10. View in Double Bay, Port Jackson.
11. Iron Bark, and Tea Tree.
12. The Lower Lodge, Domain, Sydney.

[Set 2, No.1]
13. Elizabeth Bay, Port Jackson.
14. The Light House, Port Jackson.
15. Brush Scene, Illawarra (Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palms)
16. Church at St. Leonard's, North Shore.

[Set 2, No.2]
17. Port Jackson, with Garden Island, from near the Church, Darling Point.
18. Sydney Cove from Milson's Point.
19. Scene at Brisbane Water (Sassafrass tree, seaforthia, &c., &c.)
20. Clarke's Island, Port Jackson.

Though the cover for this edition states "July 1851" as the date of publication, Martens did not record the sale of a complete set of the 20 small lithographs until December 1853, though he did sell a set of the "1st Lithog[raphic] Views" to Ford on 9 August 1851. He also records selling the series in sets of 6, with covers, despite having originally divided them into parts of 4 as noted on the wrappers.

Variants

An oil on canvas variant of the Brush Scene, Illawarra sketch is illustrated below. This is possibly the work sold to George Macleay on 26 May 1838.

Forest Scene, Illawarra [1838], oil on canvas.

This image was taken from a British art reproduction site. No information of the source of the original work is provided.

A number of works by Martens on the subject of bush scenery at the Illawarra are known in public collections and as recorded within his own manuscript records. They include the following:

* 11 July 1835

- Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palms etc., pencil sketch, 11 July 1835, 11.9 x 18.5 cm, in his Sketchbook of views and botanical studies in the Illawarra district, 1835, State Library of New South Wales, PXC389 f.10. Illustrated above.

* 22 December 1836

- Brush [Bush] Scenery, Illawarra, sold to George McLeay for £6.6. on 22 December 1836. Present whereabouts unknown.

* 26 May 1838

- Brush at Illawarra oil sold for £2.10. on 26 May 1838. Present whereabouts unknown. Possibly the work illustrated above.

* 18 March 1842

- Brush at Illawarra, sold to J. Mason for £8.8. on 18 March 1842. Present whereabouts unknown.

* 1842

- 18 March 1842 - Brush at Illawarra, sold to J. Moxon.

* 1846

- Cabbage Tree Gully, Illawarra, 1846, owned by Dr. P. Sydney Jones M.D. and exhibited at the Loan Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1897 (catalogue page 55). Present whereabouts unknown.

* 5 April 1854

- Brush, Illawarra, sold to P. Leslie for £5.5. on 5 April 1854. Present whereabouts unknown.

----------------------

References

Artist Unknown, Illawarra, Leski Auctions, Armadale, Victoria, Sale 501, lot 669, 24 March 2024.

Martens, Conrad, Brush Scene, Illawarra, (Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palm), National Library of Australia, hand-coloured lithograph, 1850, 15 x 18.5 cm.

------, do., State Library of New South Wales, Mitchell Library, ML V*SpColl/Martens/17, lithograph.

------, Nettle Tree and Cabbage Palms, State Library of New South Wales, Dixson Library, etching.

----------------------

Last updated: 29 February 2024

Michael Organ, Australia

Search This Blog

Conrad Martens art

Conrad Martens - Forest Scene, Illawarra 1850-1

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Campbell (Verge) House, Parramatta 1838-9

Mullet Creek, Illawarra 1853