Gill, S.T. (1818-80; English/Australian)
The Victorian Gold Fields during 1852-3 / Comprising 40 original sketches by S.T.Gill / Drawn by desire of the Trustees of the M.P.L. 1869
Watercolours, various sizes
Commissioned by the Public Library, 1869
State Library of Victoria (H86.7/1-40)
[reproduced at right: title page (H86.7/1)]
This album was commissioned by the Melbourne Public Library in 1869; the price paid to the artist was £53/10.
As Grishin remarks (2015), the imagery revisits Gill’s 1852 series of lithographs, Sketches of the Victoria Diggings and Diggers as they are, in fresh but also slightly more “gentrified” terms, perhaps reflecting the demands of the commissioning Trustees.
On the title page, reproduced here, diggers are shown arriving at the goldfields (at right) and then leaving (at left).
The individual watercolours brim with life and detail – see e.g.no.6 The Claim Disputed, reproduced in the introduction to Watercolours in this catalogue. The SLV’s online catalogue provides a complete set of reproductions, and a number of pages are also reproduced in Grishin’s book.
In 1872, Gill produced a second set of watercolours on the same subject, subsequently acquired for the SLV, after the artist’s death: Gill The Gold Fields of Victoria during 1852 & 3… 1872 {1891} SLV [WT].
Refs.
Not listed in NGV 1894 or 1905
Refer SLV catalogue and Grishin S.T.Gill (2015), as noted