NB this select list is designed to supplement the important examples of early acquisitions catalogued under Illustrated Books. Again, emphasis is given to titles on art, architecture, archaeology and travel/exploration. Some of the title listed below included illustrations but usually only in small numbers and/or of modest artistic merit. Nevertheless, many of them are important
[photo: View of Melbourne’s casts in 1872 (1 of 2 albumen silver photographs): detail (SLV H96.160/1789)] Introduction to Melbourne’s former plaster cast collection The production of replicas of famous statues, already widespread in the ancient Roman period, became a global phenomenon after 1850, with the availability of cheaper, good quality plaster casts. These were produced
[engraving by Samuel Calvert, published in the Illustrated Australian News, 14 June 1875] Among various recognizable works, * Giambologna [after] Rape of the Sabines {1878} Loc? [SC] (no longer in the collection) is prominent. The room, later re-named the McArthur Gallery, how houses the State Library’s Family History collection.
[photo: Hangard-Maugé & Schultz after Jan & Hubert van Eyck: lithographic reproduction (1868) of the Ghent Altarpiece (NGV, purchased 1868)] In several meticulously-researched studies, Melbourne art historian Alison Inglis has emphasized the reliance of both private and public collections in colonial Australia on “replicas, reproductions and copies.” Although the modernist “tradition of the new”
This scholarship, instituted by G.F.Folingsby, was first awarded to John Longstaff in 1887. The terms of the award dictated that at least one original canvas and two Old Master copies from each recipient be added to the Melbourne collection. Other recipients during the pre-Felton period were Aby Altson [1890], James Quinn [1893], George Coates [1896], Max
In 1879, George Collins Levey (1835-1919), a British-born journalist and newspaper editor who lived and worked in Australia, mostly in Melbourne, between 1851 and c.1883, donated a substantial collection of prints to the NGV – arguably the most significant donation to the gallery prior to the Felton Bequest. (For Levey, see in particular the biography
As reported in the Melbourne Age (19 May 1943), a group of 19 sculptures was auctioned off at the NGV by Mr Leonard Joel: see attached report (via Trove). Some 15 of these were pre-Felton acquisitions. This sale was part of the larger process of extensive culling of the Melbourne collection (mostly Victorian-era works) carried out between
[comparative photo: cover of the 13 Sept.1888 issue of The Graphic, showing the opening of the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition] Established in 1869, The Graphic was a significant platform for black and white illustrators of the period, continuing weekly publication until 1932. Founded to compete with the established Illustrated London News, it attracted many of the best graphic
[photo: William Bligh (no.9)] This series of portraits of colonial governors was initiated by Redmond Barry and the Melbourne Public Library Trustees in 1866. Most of them appear to have been produced during the 1860s and 1870s, although new examples were still being added in the 1880s. In the gallery’s annual reports, they are usually described as “painted photographic
This wood engraving, published in The Australasian Sketcher, 4 June 1883, provides an exciting if possibly exaggerated view of the tumultuous Sunday crowd at the NGV, hurrying past the two zinc lions formerly guarding the entrance, in their eagerness to see Herbert Moses bringing down the Tablets of the Law (acquired in 1878) and the
This photograph was presumably taken in the 1860s or 1870s, and cannot date from any earlier than 1862, since it includes on the balcony at the back the Burmese Buddha acquired in that year: see now introduction to Asian art, with a detail of this photo. Housed on the first floor of the Melbourne Public
This room, essentially a stairwell linking the Stawell and McArthur Galleries in the former NGV, was apparently constructed in about 1887. It no longer exists in this form, having been absorbed into subsequent reconstruction of the State Library building. The space is now occupied by the south rotunda annexed to the Cowan (formerly Stawell) Gallery,
This exhibition space, completed in 1893, was originally used to display watercolours, etchings and drawings, as well as some sculptures (NGV 1894, section II). A similar selection of works was shown there in 1905 (overview reproduced here from NGV 1905, p.80), with some additions, notably Herkomer Queen Victoria {1892} NGV [PA], prominent on the end
This room, one of several added to the Melbourne Public Library complex during the late 1880s to accommodate the growing collections of the NGV, was the showpiece for major international paintings from the collection during the 1890s and early 1900s. Its contents opened the illustrated catalogues published in 1894 and 1905, listing the works in
Picture Gallery, South Wing, Lt Lonsdale Street 1872 Silver albumen photograph SLV H96.160/1794 (transferred from the Victorian Patents Office, 1908) This photograph (one of a pair) documents the appearance of the Public Library’s temporary picture gallery as it appeared between c. 1865 and 1875. Prominent are several of the NGV’s earliest painting acquisitions: Cope Pilgrim Fathers 1856
This partial view of the library’s entrance hall (as published in the 1905 NGV catalogue, before p.1), includes several recognizable marble sculptures. Clearly visible in the left and centre foreground are Charles Summers‘ statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Also visible here are * Halse Advance Australia 1865 {1891} Loc? [SC] (at the far right);
This photograph shows a partial view of the assemblage of statues in front of the Public Library immediately after the installation of Frémiet’s Joan of Arc (an early Felton Bequest purchase, hence not included in this catalogue). Also visible on the steps is Gilbert & Ball Redmond Barry 1887 {1887} SLV [SC]. The photo was sent by