421660
- Title[Blue Mountains, ca. 1815-1816] / watercolour drawings by John William Lewin
- Creator
- Call numberPXE 888
- Level of descriptionfonds
- Date
ca. 1815-1816 - Type of material
- Reference code421660
- Issue CopyDigitised
- Physical Description16 watercolours (3 boxes) - 24.5 x 29.7 cm or smaller
- ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
John William Lewin (1770-1819) was primarily a natural history artist and collector. In April 1815, Lewin accompanied Governor Macquarie's expedition over the Blue Mountains to assess the Bathurst Plains for agricultural and pastoral merit. Lewin recorded the journey in 21 watercolour drawings, of which 15 are held in this series. Amongst the group was Major Henry Colden Antill who made a deal with Lewin to provide a copy of his journal in exchange for copies of Lewin's watercolours. This set is the one that belonged to Antill. The journal numbers the watercolours throughout with a titled and numbered list supplied at the back. One watercolour view is described but unnumbered (May 2).
Major Antill's, "Journal of an excursion over the Blue or Western Mountains of New South Wales to visit a tract of new discovered Country, [25 April-19 May] 1815", is available at ML Safe 1/20a (microfilm CY265) Mitchell Library - Scope and ContentIllustrations of a tour across the Blue Mountains in 1815 with Governor Macquarie. These were later used to illustrate Antill's diary. This collection was re-arranged in 2002 to correspond to Antill's Journal.
1a. Emu Ford
51 x 33 cm.
1b. Emu Ford
24.6 x 29.9 cm.
1c. [Backing sheet]
24.5 x 29.9 cm.
2. Spring Wood [i.e. Springwood]
22.1 x 27 cm.
3. Jamieson's Valley
23.5 x 27.5 cm.
4. Pitt's Amphitheatre
24.5 x 29.5 cm.
5. The Vale of Clwyd
22.5 x 27 cm.
Previously titled Cox's Pass
6. Cox's Pass
25 x 30.5 cm
7. [Cox's Pass with expedition resting]
22 x 27 cm.
Previously titled Campbell's River
8. [Cox's Pass. View of camp beside Cox's River]
21.1 x 25.5 cm.
Previously titled Sidmouth Valley
9. Cox's River
23 x 22.4 cm.
10. Cox's River
[not held]
11. Evan's Peak
22.8 x 27 cm.
12. The Fish River
[not held]
13a. Sydmouth [i.e. Sidmouth] Valley [with emus in foreground]
25 x 30.2 cm.
13b. [Sidmouth Valley showing Macquarie River]
22.5 x 27.5 cm.
14. Campbell River
22 x 27 cm.
15. Macquarie River [showing Grand Depot]
22 x 27.8 cm.
Previously titled Bathurst Plains
16. Bathurst Plains
[not held]
17-18. Natives
[not held]
19. The Plains [showing Governor Macquarie's Tent]
[not held]
20. The Plains
23 x 27.2 cm. - Access Conditions
Access via appointment - Copying ConditionsOut of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales - Published InformationPXE 888/11 published in : Artonview, Issue no. 75, Spring 2013 – article on the 'Australia' exhibition at the Royal Academy, London
- General note
Transferred from SVIB/BLU M/1-15 Mitchell Library, 2002
The watercolours may be viewed as individual works and as a panorama as they document the expedition's progression over the Blue Mountains to the Bathurst Plains.
In 1987, during a conservation treatment of No.1a Emu Ford, a second watercolour (No.1b), 22.4 x 27.5 cm., on paper 24.6 x 29.5 cm., was found pasted between the first watercolour and a backing sheet. This watercolour, possibly not by Lewin, is a similar view to the first, though not as detailed in its execution, nor is it signed or dated. The title "Emu Ford" is inscribed beneath the image in the same hand as that on the first watercolour.
At an unknown date a non-contemporaneous piece was inserted into the lower edge of No.6 to replace a missing piece. This was removed by SLNSW Preservation Branch in 1997 and is fixed to the reverse of the mount.
No.9 appears as Fish River in: "The Opening of the Road Across the Blue Mountains. An authentic copy of the diary of Governor Macquarie's Journey across the New Road..." / Frank Walker (editor), Q991.5/1A1 Mitchell Library
Photographic prints, printed in 2002, from negatives FM2/12 taken c. 1948 are filed at PXA 987
Digital order no:Album ID : 823892 - Signatures / Inscriptions
No.5 and No.13a are signed in lower right "J.W. Lewin". No.5 is dated 1816
Most of the drawings are unsigned and undated. Nos.1a, 1b, 3, 4, and 5 are titled in a later hand below image. No.6 has a partially visible printed title "...rse of the Pass". Nos. 3, 7, and 15 have inaccurate printed titles that are not contemporary with Lewin.
No.13a is the unnumbered view refered to in Antill's diary and is titled below image - Topic
- Place
- Exhibited in
The Australian Landscape - Applies to: No. 11
Australian landscape, 1802-1975 : a cultural exchange exhibition with China - Australia Council. Visual Arts Board. (September 1975 - November 1975). Applies to: Nos. 7, 11
The coming of the strangers : life in Australia, 1788-1822 - State Library of New South Wales (January 1988 - December 1988). Applies to: Nos. 1a, 8, 11, 13b
The Artist and the patron - Art Gallery of New South Wales (February 1988 - May 1988). Applies to: No. 2
Age of Macquarie - Greenway Gallery, Hyde Park Barracks. Applies to : Nos. 1a, 2, 11, 14
A Rage for Curiosity - State Library of New South Wales (September 1997 - January 1998). Applies to: Nos. 3, 4, 7, 8
The Governor : Lachlan Macquarie, 1810 to 1821 (Travelling exhibition) - State Library of New South Wales (November 2010 - March 2012). Applies to: nos. 2;7;11;14
Lewin: Wild Art - State Library of New South Wales (March 2012 - October 2012). Applies to: nos. 1a, 2 - 9, 11, 13a - b, 14, 15, 20
Australia - Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain) (September 2013 - December 2013). Applies to: no. 11
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