Collection Of Early N.Z. Sketches

Chronicle (Levin), 14 December 1949, Page 6

Collection Of Early N.Z. Sketches

WELLINGTON, Hec. 13. Oue of the most interesting colJections of eaily New Zealand water-col-ours ever assembled m Wellington is on view at the NationaJ Gallery. iior the first time Nevv Zealanders will have an opportunity of viewing the vyork of Adniiral B. A. Oliyer, wlio as a young man, between tlie years of- 1847-ol, was engaged in survey worli on the New Zealahd coast, and mhde a series of water-colour sketches that are of first-rate historie value. : Uiiver travelled extensively' aboiit the country — from the Bay of Islands in the north to bouthland. Wherever he went the navai officer sketched, thus recording pe'r^onaiities of the period among the 'niixed pakeha-Maon poulatio'n, many Of whom now hav.e a place in history. Not the least important aspect of his work, m view oi the approaching Oanterbury centenary, are. the drawings m and around Lyttelton. Probably Oliver's best portrait is a study of Te Rangihaeata, which was drawn from iife. This section of the collection is on view by permission of the painter 's grandson, Mr C. G. S. Oiiver, of Oak ham, England. The exliibition has been supplemented with original works by C. B. Bar raud, \\'illiam JSwainson, J. C. Richmond, Nicholas Chevalier, and others. idome of the prints from "Mrs A. W. C. Halcombe 's early Rangitikei collee tion will be on view. iioth Barraud and Swainson did much of their worli around Wellington. The toriuer. a chemist who came to Welling ton in 1849, is well known for his iitho/ graphs, published in England in 187 7, and now keenly sought after by collectors. Bwainson, who lived in tlie'liutt Y'alley, was a naturaiist who joined the expedition to BraziJ in 1816 and came to New Zealand in 1841. Chevalier came to New; Zealahd in the early sixties, and was associated with the Duke of Edinburgh in his world travels. He' \Vas born in Russia in 1828, where his father, a Ewiss, hekl a post in the Tsar-'s househoid. Chevalier 's widow presented a large collec tion of his works to the New Zealand Government. A member of a notable New Zealand pioneer family, J. C. Richmond was a painter of exeeptional talent. He settled with his family at New Plymoutli in 1851. and was one of the outstanding flgures on the early coionial