navigation

 


Section 3 The Progress of Art

John Hunter, 1737-1821
New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax)
plate 91 of Birds and Flowers of New South Wales Drawn on the Spot in 1788, '89 and '90 1788-1790

sketchbook containing 100 watercolours
Rex Nan Kivell Collection ; NK2039
National Library of Australia

 

Draughtsmanship was a normal part of a naval officer's training. Skill, however, was developed with practice rather than through formal lessons. Hunter's skill as a surveyor and chartmaker was rated highly because of his ability to draw and his methodical approach. Hunter took enthusiastically to the task of recording the flora and fauna of New South Wales, finding it afforded 'much entertainment to the curious in the science of botany'. Included in the sketchbook are several drawings by John Lewin.

The plant illustrated is the New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax), first described by George and Johann Forster on Cook's second voyage. Growing naturally in New Zealand and on Norfolk Island, the flowers are usually red. Hunter has portrayed the yellow-flowered form.

On purchasing the Hunter sketchbook at Sotheby's in 1953, Nan Kivell wrote that the sketchbook was 'certainly a coronet if not a crown to any collection'.

 

< Section 3 Index | Next >

< Paradise Possessed Exhibition Plan

A selection of images from the Paradise Possessed exhibition.

National Library of Australia.

Click here to find out more about NLA exhibitions.

Copyright: ©1998, National Library of Australia