John Skinner Prout - Australian lithographs 1842-1847

John Skinner Prout: @Broulee & Illawarra 1841-44 | Australian lithographs 1842-47 | Broulee 2021 

John Skinner Prout (1805-1876) was resident in Australia (New South Wales and Tasmania) between 14 December 1840 - April 1848 (Hodgman 1967). During that period he published three series of lithographic prints. These are listed below, along with known miscellaneous printings. Prior to coming to Australia, Prout had published a number of series of picturesque landscape and town lithographic views of English localities such as Monmouthshire and Chester. He was especially skilled in the use of watercolour. Whilst in Australia Prout continued this work, supporting a large family through the sale of artworks and prints, alongside teaching and lecturing. After his return to England some of his Australian work was reproduced as engravings in a settler account (Bowditch 1851) and a general pictorial history of the colony (Booth 1873-76).

Just missed out.....

I had been interested in John Skinner Prout since the 1980s, when I was studying the colonial period art of the Illawarra district of New South Wales, where I grew up. During July 1841 and 1843-44 Prout had visited both Wollongong and Broulee, both located on the coast south of Sydney, and many of his views of the two sites appeared in E.C. Booth's Australia Illustrated during the 1870s. I had compiled a list of these works back in 2000. At the time I noted the existence of a rare lithograph of Wollongong Harbour produced by Prout whilst in Hobart sometime around 1847, just prior to his leaving Australia. More recently, in August 2021 I came across a 2018 auction sale of one of these prints. This spurred me on to return to the work of Skinner Prout and obtain a better knowledge of his Australian lithographs, in order to put the Wollongong Harbour work in context. Whilst carrying out that research - the result of which is presented below - I searched for sale items on sites such as eBay and Invaluable. In one instance, on eBay I came across a damaged lithographic print of Sydney that I was unfamiliar with. I subsequently discovered it was printed in Hobart by T. Bluett in 1844, and missed out by a couple of hours on securing it. Such is life....

Sydney Illustrated 1842-44

Issued in four parts with 14 lithographed plates between 1842-1844, with 42 pages, 15 leaves of tinted views and untinted lithographs (3 folded), plus illustrations and a map of Sydney Harbour, published in Sydney. Titled: Sydney Illustrated by J.S. Prout, with letter press description by J. Rae. Reissued in a limited edition of 750 copies by Tyrrel, Sydney, 1948, 102p. Therein, all the images were trimmed. The first three parts were published by Kemp and Fairfax, Sydney. Prout had arrived in Australia with some printing equipment and early in 1841 set up the J.S. Prout and Co., Australian Lithographic Establishment, O'Connell Street, Sydney. At some point he was assisted in Sydney, and later in Hobart, by emigrant printer Thomas Bluett, previously of Day and Haghe, London (Barton 2006). For example, the two large plates and frontispiece of part four were printed by Bluett in Hobart, from November 1843 through 1844. The quality of Sydney Illustrated was criticised by the press in Sydney at the time of its initial release, due in part to the problems Prout encountered in securing appropriate paper upon which to print the lithographs.

The lithographs of parts I, II and III were printed in Sydney during 1842 in two colours - black to present the image and text, along with a cream background tint. The size of the image was 18.2 x 26.4 cm on sheets 27.2 x 37.6 cm. Many of these were subsequently trimmed and subject to contemporary or later colouring with watercolour. The two lithographs of Part IV were printed in Hobart during 1844 on larger sheets.

A folding map of Sydney Harbour by Prout was included, with a key to the location of the various views, number #1 to #15. 

* Wrapper cover image - group of three Aborigines by a fire, engraving. Used for Parts I & II.

* Wrapper cover image - group of eight Aborigines, engraving. Used for Part III. Text: Part III. / Price 10/6. / Sydney / Illustrated / By / J.S. Prout. /  Member of the New Society of Water Colours, London / With / Descriptive Letter Press / By / John Rae A.M. / Sydney / MDCCCXLIII.

* Frontispiece, vignette. The Tombs, Garden Island, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #15. Text: Sydney Illustrated / By J.S. Prout. / With Letterpress Description By / John Rae M.A.

* Sydney Cove, looking north, tinted lithograph, 1842. Trimmed view illustrated below. Map - #1.

* Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney, tinted lithograph, 1842. Untrimmed, original two colour plate, plus coloured version also illustrated. Map - #2.

 

Woolloomooloo Bay, pencil sketch study, Art Gallery of New South Wales.

* Millers Point, looking north-west, from the Flagstaff Hill, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #3.

 

* Port Jackson, from Dawe's Battery, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #4.

 

 

Port Jackson from Dawes Battery, oil on canvas.

* Sydney Cove looking south [Campbell's Wharf], Sydney Cove, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #5.

* Lower Falls, Willoughby, North Shore, Sydney, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #6.

* Sydney, from Mrs Darling's Point, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #7.

* New Government House, Sydney, lithograph, 1842. Map - #8.

* The Heads of Port Jackson, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #9.

The  Heads of Port Jackson, pencil sketch, Art Gallery of New South Wales.

* Port Jackson from Vaucluse, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #10.

* Cockatoo Island, Parramatta River, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #11.

* View in George Street, Sydney, tinted lithograph, 1842. Map - #12.

* The City of Sydney, N.S.W., Sydney from North Shore, tinted lithograph, 1844, 23.5 x 44.2 cm, printed by T. Bluett, Hobart. Part IV of Sydney Illustrated. Map - #13.

* The City of Sydney, N.S.W., from the government paddock, Paramatta Street, tinted lithograph, 1844, 23.5 x 44.2 cm, printed by T. Bluett, Hobart. Part IV of Sydney Illustrated. Map - #14.

 

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Tasmania Illustrated

Issued in four parts with 20 tinted lithographed plates between 1844-1846, T. Bluett, Hobart. Sheet size: 37 x 63 cm. Titled: Tasmania Illustrated by J.S. Prout / Vol. I / Vol. II / Hobart Town 1844. Plates include:

* Title page, Tree-fern plus five illustrations, tinted lithograph, T. Bluett, Hobart. 

* The Female Factory from Proctor's Quarry

* Residence of the Aborigines, Flinders Island 1846

* Hobart Town from the new wharf

* New Town, Mount Direction, Van Dieman's Land, 1844, tinted lithograph, 24.9 x 40.1 cm, sheet 37.4 x 54.2 cm.

* Fern tree valley, Mount Wellington

 
* Cape Raoul and Cape Pillar

 

 

* Hobart Town from the New Town road, 1846, lithograph.

* Rest Down on the Derwent

* Hobart Town from Kangaroo Bay

* Hobart Town &c. from Mount Nelson

* The Queen's Orphan Schools, New Town &c. from the Risdon Road, 1844, plate 10.

* Hobart Town from the government paddock

* Launceston V.D.L., from the Westbury Road

 
* The Cataract, Launceston

* Longford and part of Norfolk Plains V.D.L.

* Ben Lomond from Fingal

* Port Arthur, V.D.L.

* Wellington Falls, Hobart, 1845, coloured lithograph, 26.5 x 36.5 cm. Signed and dated lower right. Auction: Lawsons 17 December 2020 (Passed).

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Views of Melbourne and Geelong

Issued in 6 tinted lithographic plates, Melbourne, 1847. Plates include:

* Melbourne from Collingwood 1847

* Vale of Heidelberg near Melbourne

* Elizabeth St., Melbourne 1847

* View from Batman's Hill, Melbourne

* Corio Bay from the Barrabool Hills 1847

* Geelong, 1847

Miscellaneous

* On the Plenty near Melbourne, 1842, tinted lithograph, 23 x 36.5 cm.

* Wollongong Harbour, lithograph, 32.8 x 47.5 cm, circa 1847. Collection: State Library of New South Wales. Signed 'J. Skinner Prout' lower left. Untitled and undated.

View of Wollongong harbour taken from near the convict stockade on Flagstaff Hill, Wollongong Point, looking westerly towards Mount Keira (centre right) and Mount Kembla (far left). The original sketch for this work was most likely taken during the artist's visit to Illawarra in December 1843 - January 1844. According to Tony Brown (pers. comm.) the lithograph was most likely produced during the final stages of Prout's Tasmanian residency, around 1847. This highly animated work shows the activity of the port of Wollongong during the early 1840s, and the excavation works associated with the formation of a harbour basin (seen in the left centre of the picture). These works were carried out between 1837-44 by convict labourers under the supervision of soldiers from various British regiments such as the 28th and 40th Regiments of Foot. This panoramic lithograph is an important work in Wollongong history - it is rich in detail and records the development of the harbour at a time (1843-44) when the town was barely 10 years old and convicts still played a major role in its development. Refer Brown & Kolenberg (1986, p.80), where the work is therein tentatively titled 'Landscape, Tom Thumb's Lagoon area, New South Wales'. In various auction sales it has been listed as 'Untitled' as there was no legend printed with the work to describe its precise location.

 

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References

Anon., Exhibition for the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Australia, Kemp and Fairfax, Sydney, 1847, 24p.

----, Catalogue of the Remaining Works of the late J. Skinner Prout....., Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 26-27 February 1877, 23p.

Barton, Paul Thomas Bluett, lithographer, Australiana, May 2006, 20-26.

Bayley, W.A., Behind Broulee, Central South Coast, New South Wales, Eurobodalla Shire Council, Moruya, 1973.

Booth, E.C., Australia Illustrated, 2 volumes, Virtue & Co., London, 1873-76.

----, Early Sydney Engravings, (Facsimile reprint of sections of Australia Illustrated), Sydney Ure Smith, Sydney, 1975.

----, Australia in the 1870s, (Facsimile reprint of Australia Illustrated), Summit Books, Dee Why, 1976, 232p.

Bowditch, Sarah, Adventures in Australia; or, The wanderings of Captain Spencer in the bush and the wilds. Containing accurate descriptions of the habits of the natives, and the natural productions and features of the country, Grant and Griffith, London, 1851, 364p. Illustrated by Prout.

Brown, Joseph, Winter Exhibition, 1975, Recent Acquisitions, (Catalogue), Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 1975.

Brown, Tony, John Skinner Prout - A Colonial Artist, Art and Australia, vol.22, no.4, Winter, 1985, 516-22.

----, John Skinner Prout, in Joan Kerr (ed), Dictionary of Australian Artists to 1870, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992.

Brown, Tony and Hendrik Kolenberg, Skinner Prout in Australia, 1840-48, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart, 1986, 80p.

Broxham, G. and I. Nicholson, Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Sydney, 1841-1844, Roebuck, Canberra, 1988, 483p.

Darby, Garry, Skinner Prout in Australia 1840-1849, Art and Australia, 25(1), 1987.

Dixson, W., Notes on Australian Artists, Journal and Proceedings (Royal Australian Historical Society), 7(6), 1921, 379-80.

Flower, Cedric, Antipodes Observed: Prints and Printmakers of Australia 1788-1850, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1975, 140p.

Gray, Anne, Four Pictorial Icons of Place, Voices, National library of Australia, Winter 1991, 24-35.

Hodgman, W.V., John Skinner Prout, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, volume 2, 1967.  

John Skinner Prout, Artnet [website], accessed 30 August 2021.

John Skinner Prout, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Oxford University Press, 2011. 

John Skinner Prout, The British Museum [website], London, accessed 30 August 2021. 

John Skinner Prout, National Gallery of Victoria [website], Melbourne, accessed 30 August 2021.

John Skinner Prout, Wikipedia [webpage], accessed 30 August 2021.

Lindsay, Lionel, Conrad Martens, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1920. 

Lockett, R., Samuel Prout (1783-1852), Batsford & Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1985, 192p.

Mallalieu, Huon, John Skinner Prout, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

McDonald, Patrica, Painted Panorama, 1800-1870, Blaxland Gallery & State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 1985, 144p.

McDonald, Patrica, Barry Pearce, and Richard Neville, The Artist and the Patron. Aspects of Colonial Art in New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1988, 187p.

Orchard, K., Organ, M. and Walsh, J., Illawarra: The Garden of New South Wales, (Exhibition catalogue), Wollongong City Gallery, 1994, 48p.

Pigott, Louis and Tony Brown, A colonial Hobart townscape by John Skinner Prout, The Australian Antique Collector, 47, Jan-June 1994, 77-79.

Prout, John Skinner, Picturesque atlas of Bristol, 1835.

-----, The castles and abbeys of Monmouthshire, 1838.

-----, Views of Chester, 1839.

-----, Antiquities of York, 1840.

-----, Journal of a voyage from Plymouth to Sydney, 1844.

-----, Sydney Illustrated, 1844-45.

-----, Tasmania Illustrated, 1844-5.

-----, Melbourne and Geelong, 1846-7.

-----, Views in Australia, 1846.

Prout Collection, National Library of Australia [website], Canberra, accessed 30 August 2021.

Ritchie, R., Seeing the Rainforests in Nineteenth Century Australia, Rainforest Publishing, Sydney, 1989.

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John Skinner Prout: @Broulee & Illawarra 1841-44 | Australian lithographs 1842-47 | Broulee 2021 

Last updated: 6 September 2021

Michael Organ, Australia