* Scurry (?) View from Flagstaff Hill 1853 {1884} Loc? [DR]

Scurry, James (1826-94; English/Australian) (?)
View from Flagstaff Hill 1853
Pencil on paper, c.10 x 68.5 cm
Presented by Scurry, 1884
Unidentified; present location unknown

To judge from the dimensions indicated in both NGV 1894 and 1905 (see above), this was a panoramic view of early Melbourne. The list of Scurry’s works provided on the Design & Art Australia Online website mentions it as in the La Trobe library; however, it does not appear in the SLV’s current online catalogue.

On the face if it, there may be some confusion with Robertson Melbourne from the Flagstaff Hill 1853 {1880} SLV [WT], a watercolour also showing the view from Flagstaff Hill and dated 1853. However that work, catalogued by the SLV as presented by Robertson in 1880, is in a different style from Scurry’s characteristic manner, and in a conventional rectangular format, rather than the widescreen shape indicated by the dimensions given in NGV 1894.

Refs.

AR 1884, p.36; NGV 1894, p.115 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 3^rd bay, no.48; size given as 4 x 27 inches); NGV 1905, p. 129 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 3^rd bay, no.22)

For the DAAO reference (accessed Jan.2016), see https://www.daao.org.au/bio/work/view-from-the-flagstaff-hill/ (not reproduced)