Place:

Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

Date:

c. 1873

Historical Information:

Engraving by John Saddler from a drawing by James Charles Armytage showing the thriving gold rush town of Ballarat.

Provenance:

“Australia” vol. I, 1873; Edwin Carton Booth F.R.C.I. with drawings by (John) Skinner Prout, N. (Nicholas) Chevalier, &c. &c.

About the Artist:

“James Charles Armytage” was an engraver and printmaker.  He regularly engraved drawings by John Ruskin for publication in Ruskin’s books, who regularly praised and thanked Armytage for his “consummate skill and patience” in carrying out the work for him, and described his works as “lovely” and “magnificent”.

It is interesting to note that no other record of “James Charles Armytage” exists. Armytage appears only as “J. C. Armytage” in works and the name may have been mistaken for John Carr Armytage, a landscape engraver (1802-1897).

From the collection of:

The British Library