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Lot 198
George Edwards Peacock(Australian, 1806-1890)Port Jackson, New South Wales, View in Double Bay, looking towards St George's and Middle Heads, Morning, 1847
22 September 2019, 13:00 AEST
Sydney, WoollahraSold for AU$24,400 inc. premium
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George Edwards Peacock (Australian, 1806-1890)
Port Jackson, New South Wales, View in Double Bay, looking towards St George's and Middle Heads, Morning, 1847
titled, signed and dated on card verso
oil on card
13.5 x 19.0cm (5 5/16 x 7 1/2in).
titled, signed and dated on card verso
oil on card
13.5 x 19.0cm (5 5/16 x 7 1/2in).
Footnotes
PROVENANCE
Christies, Sydney, 3 October 1973, lot 407
Collection of the late Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax, Sydney
Once a Yorkshire middle class solicitor, transported for forgery who later became a meteorologist, George Edwards Peacock arrived in Sydney aboard the Prince George on 8 May 1837. By 1846, he had received a conditional pardon though keenly felt his social disgrace and sought redemption through his work as an artist. Indeed, his oil paintings of Sydney Harbour from c.1844 - 1857 depict an idyll of leisure and beauty. Finely drawn with an amazing eye for the delicate and considered, whilst the details of Peacock's formal art training are not known, his competence suggest English training. The majority of his works are now held in the collection of State Library of New South Wales and document the harbour foreshores with its elegant villas and stately homes.
At the time, the beaches and inlets accessible from South Head road around the south of the harbour were considered the most picturesque with the northern shore generally held to be wild and dry. Catering in part to his own taste and that of his collectors, Peacock's works are focused almost exclusively on the area along with some which document prominent buildings in town. Painted primarily in oil on card, Peacock's confidence grew into the early 1850s when he commenced signing his work to the face. These examples, both earlier, have detailed notations in ink to cards attached verso.
The works he produced with their fine notations are the main record we have of Peacock's life. After 1856 he disappears from view and neither the date or place of his death are known.
Merryn Schriever