Entries in this catalogue reproducing or citing documentary photographs from Boake’s “Melbourne Art Gallery & Museum series” (c.1905):
Boehm Young Bull {1888} Melb.Showgrounds [SC]
Cranari Perseus {1885} Ballarat [SC]
Lombardi (G.B.) First Whisper of Love {1884} Warrnambool [SC]
MacDowell Eve {1877} Bendigo [SC]
* Summers (Charles) Maternal Affection {1884} Loc? [SC]
Summers (C.F. ) & Lombardi (G.B.) Shunammite Woman {1884} Bendigo [SC]
Boake migrated to Australia in about 1858, and proceeded to lead a long career as a professional photographer. He is documented as based in Sydney from c.1862-91, and then in Victoria for the remainder of his life, much of it in penury following unsuccessful land speculations.
Around 1905, Boake produced a series of “stereographs” of the Public Library of Victoria and its holdings (the date is suggested by internal evidence – for details, see comments in the entry on Boehm’s Young Bull). A number of these photos, held in the SLV, provide important documentation of works in the pre-Felton collection, especially of sculptures and other works that can no longer be traced.
Boake’s son, Barcroft Henry Boake (1866-92), was a poet who led a tragically brief life before suiciding. A collected edition of his poems was published later by A.G.Stephens.
Refs.
For Boake, see Kerr Dictionary (1992), pp.75-77 (entry by Charles Boag); and https://daao.org.au/bio/barcroft-capel-boake/(with further references; accessed 1/11/2018). See also SLV catalogue
For B.H.Boake, see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boake-barcroft-henry-3018 (biography by Cecil Hadgraft, first published in ADB3, 1969; accessed 1/11/2018)