Introduction

The London-born travel artist, Augustus Earle (1793-1838), left England in 1818 bound for the USA. This was the first stage of a remarkable, round-the-world journey that took him to South America, Tristan da Cunha, New South Wales, New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia, India, Mauritius and St Helena before returning home in late 1829.

Most of his predecessors who worked outside Europe had been employed on voyages of exploration or worked abroad for wealthy, often aristocratic patrons. Earle, however, operated quite independently and was fortunate to be able to combine his wanderlust with an ability to earn a living through art. The body of work he produced now comprises what is arguably a unique record documenting the effects of European contact and colonisation during the early nineteenth century.

The fifty watercolours selected for this exhibition have been drawn from a group of 161 works that was offered for sale at Sotheby & Co., London in May 1926 by the grandson of Earle's half-brother. Some years later, the works came into the possession of the New Zealand-born art dealer and collection, Sir Rex Nan Kivell (1898-1977), and together with the rest of his collection, were acquired for the National Library of Australia in several stages between the 1940s and 1970s, initially by purchase and later by gift. A major oil painting by Earle, as well as a group of prints, publications and other related material, have also been included in the exhibition.

Exhibition Itinerary:
  • National Library of New Zealand, Wellington / 2 August - 19 November 1994
  • Auckland City Gallery, Auckland / 17 December 1994 - 6 February 1995
  • Museum of Sydney, Sydney / 9 June - 20 August 1995
  • National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT - 29 February to 14 July 1996


Introduction | Brief chronology | Shipboard life
Tristan da Cunha | New Zealand | Homeward bound
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