Pre-Felton works donated by Montefiore:
* Bartolozzi [attrib] Study of Figures {1869} Loc? [DR]
* Castello [attrib.] Study of Male Figure {1869} Loc? [DR]
* Kauffmann Cupid and the Three Graces {1869} Loc? [DR]
* Laer, van (Bamboccio) Study of a Male Figure {1869} Loc? [DR]
Montefiore Melbourne from the Falls 1837 {by 1870} SLV [ET]
* Montefiore Environs of Sydney {by 1894} Loc? [PR]
Montefiore The Rip – Port Phillip Heads 1868 {by 1894} SLV [PR]
* Montefiore after Chevalier Crossing a Creek, N.Z. {by 1894} Loc? [PR]
* Montefiore after Chevalier Pigeon Point, Banks’ Peninsula, N.Z. {by 1894} Loc? [PR]
* Varotari (‘Padovanino’) Study of a Stooping Boy {1869} Loc? [DR]
Pre-Felton works bought on Montefiore’s advice or commissioned through him:
Leader In the fields 1863 {1873} NGV [PA]
Martens One of the Falls on the Apsley 1873 {1873} NGV [WT]
Born in Barbados, Montefiore trained as an artist in England and France. While he continued to produce prints after his arrival in Australia in 1842, his main involvement in the arts was as an active supporter of both the Melbourne and Sydney galleries during their formative years, as donor and trustee.
He gave various works to the Melbourne collection (as listed above), including a group of Old Master drawings, and several prints he made himself after others, including two engravings after Nicholas Chevalier, with whom he formed a close friendship in Melbourne in the 1850s. He was also instrumental in arranging for the NGV’s 1873 commission of the watercolour by Conrad Martens, another associate.
In his 1987 study of Montefiore’s significant role in the early development of the Melbourne collection, Nicholas Draffin observed that the five drawings he is documented as donating in 1869 were apparently the earliest Old Master drawings acquired for the NGV. When Draffin’s article was published, he described these drawings as still in the Melbourne collection; unfortunately, however, it would appear that they can no longer be traced.
Refs.
See in particular Nicholas Draffin, “An enthusiastic amateur of the arts: Eliezer Levi Montefiore in Melbourne 1853-71,” Art Bulletin of Victoria 28 (1987), pp.93-104; and the entry by Draffin in Kerr Dictionary (1992), pp. 543-545. See also Bénézit 9, p.1029, noting that Montefiore studied etching under Lalanne in Paris, prior to his arrival in Australia