Place:

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Date:

ca. 1860s

Historical Information:

Engraving made from a photograph by James Charles Armytage, of Brisbane from South Brisbane.

The original photograph was taken from the junction of Merivale and Ernest Streets, South Brisbane, looking towards North Quay. On the left is the first temporary wooden bridge before its collapse in 1867. The foreground Presbyterian church was on Grey Street. 

Explorer/artist Thomas Baines (1820-1875) painted the same scene in oils, despite not having been to Brisbane during his time in Australia. Armytage did not come to Australia at all. This suggests that the photograph was most likely supplied to them both by Richard Daintree, Agent-General for Queensland in London from 1872.

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