AN ENTHUSIASTIC ARTIST.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2394, 18 November 1880, Page 2

AN ENTHUSIASTIC ARTIST.

“Miss Marianne North, who it will be remembered, came to these colonies to paint specimens of Australian wild flowers, has, so far as New South Wales is concerned,” observes the “ Sydney Morning Herald,” “ completed the agreeable task which her combined admiration for nature and art constrained her to execute. She came to New South Wales with an introduction from Sir M. E. Hic’vsbeach, the Secretary of of State for the Colonies, to the Governor ; but, in consequence of His Excellency being absent, she had no opportunities for an interview with him. The Government, however, honored her credentials, and gave all the assistance which lay in their power. The introduction was accompanied by a letter from Sir Joseph D. Hooker, the director of the Eotanical-gardens at Kcw, who spoke most favorably of the lady’s artistic powers and the valuable assistance she was rendering to botanical science. During her stay Miss North travelled all through the district of Illawarra, visited Camden park, and also the residences of several families in the 131ue Mountains and other localities, painting, as opportunities permitted her, the distinctive flowers which she not only met with on the ordinary thoroughfares, but explored hills and valleys in quest of. The lady does not intend the boundaries of Australia to circumscribe her present intentions. Her desire is to paint, so far as is possible, the wild flowers of the world, and she has now proceeded to Victoria to secure for it that furtherance which her devotion to her task is likely to acquire.