Conrad Martens as a Recorder of the Landscape
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600002701Keywords:
Conrad Martens, watercolours and pencil sketches, south-east Queensland, early 1850sAbstract
Conrad Martens' watercolours and pencil sketches constitute an unrivalled record of the landscape of south-east Queensland in the early 1850s. I can think of no other artist who so skilfully packaged and conveyed so much information, not only about what he saw on his travels but also about how he experienced it. In this article I will discuss Martens as a recorder of the landscape under three headings — artistic, scientific and historical, and to illustrate these attributes by referring to examples of his works. Many of his works display all of these attributes, but in discussing a given work I shall resist the temptation to stray from the threefold classification of artistic, scientific and historical.
References
Darwin, Charles, letter to his sister Caroline, dated Montevideo, 13 Nov. 1833, cited in Darwin, Charles, The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), vol. 1, 354.
Martens, Conrad, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, 1852, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, J.G., Conrad Martens in Queensland: The Frontier Travels of a Colonial Artist (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1978), Plate 4 and Elizabeth Ellis, Conrad Martens: Life and Art (Sydney: State Library of New South Wales Press, 1994), 172. Watercolour sold to Henry Challis in 1853.
Martens, Conrad, Kangaroo Point from Mr Thornton's, Nov. 22, 1851, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, reproduced in Steele, Figure 15.
Martens, Conrad, Moreton Bay Pine, n.d., Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 36.
Martens, Conrad, View of Brisbane and Kangaroo Point, 1862, National Library of Australia, Canberra, reproduced in Steele, Plate 3 and Susanna De Vries-Evans, Conrad Martens: On the Beagle and in Australia (Chapel Hill: Pandanus Press, 1993), Plate 11. Sold to Lord Henry Scott in 1862.
Martens, Conrad, View of North Brisbane, 1856, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Jane de Falbe, My Dear Miss Macarthur: The Recollections of Emmeline Maria Macarthur (1828–1911) (Kenthurst: Kangaroo Press, 1988), 61. Sold to George Leslie in 1856.
Martens, Conrad, Mount Huntley from Moogera, n.d., private collection; reproduced in De Vries-Evans, Plate 12. This work is sometimes known as Storm over the Darling Downs.
Martens, Conrad, Forest, Cunningham's Gap, 1856, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; reproduced in de Falbe, facing page 49, and Julie Ewington, Conrad Martens and the Darling Downs (South Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 1998). Sold to George Leslie in 1856.
Martens, Conrad, Franklyn Vale, 1861, private collection; reproduced in Steele, Plate 10. Sold to Henry Mort in 1861.
Martens, Conrad, The Mirage on the Great Condamine Plain, n.d., Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 89 and Ellis, 57.
For example, Martens, Conrad, The Glasshouses, Moreton Bay, Early Morning, Nov. 6th 51, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 2.
Martens, Conrad, Near Pilton, ‘Xanthorea’ or Grass trees, Dec. 24th 1851, 1851, Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 48.
Martens, Conrad, Mount Greville from the Ascent to Cunningham's Gap, Dec. 11 1851, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 33.
Martens, Conrad, Terrawambella on Nicol's Run, New England, March 19th 1852, 1852, Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 110 and Ellis, 61.
Martens, Conrad, The Bunya Pine, Cooyar, Feb. 13th 1852, 1852, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 80.
Martens, Conrad, Bottle Tree, 1851, 1851, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; reproduced in Steele, Figure 37.
Martens, Conrad, Bottle Tree, Rosalie Plains — Ramsay Esq. Feb. 16th, 1852, 1852, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney: reproduced in Steele, Figure 81.
Martens, Conrad, Coochin Run, 1854, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; reproduced in de Falbe, facing page 64.
Martens, Conrad, “Mooni'’, Coochin, Dec. 5th 1851, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 32.
Martens, Conrad, On the Run ‘Cuchin', 1875, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Plate 6 and Ellis, 186. Sold to Alexander Oliver in 1875.
Martens, Conrad, Coochin, Dec. 2, 1851, 1851, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; reproduced in Steele, Figure 27 and Ewington.
Martens, Conrad, Ipswich Landing Place, Nov. 24 1851, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 17.
Martens, Conrad, Cunningham's Gap, 1874, private collection; reproduced in Steele, Figure 39.
Martens, Conrad, Rosella Point, Darling Downs, Dec. 31 1851, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 59.
Martens, Conrad, Charley March 16th [1852], 1852, Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Queensland Art Gallery, 1995; reproduced at http://www.visualarts.qld.gov.au/martens.
Martens, Conrad, Forest, Cunningham's Gap, 1856, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; reproduced in de Falbe, facing page 49 and Ewington.
Martens, Conrad, Descent of the Range from Drayton, 7 Jan. 1852, 1852, Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 66.
Martens, Conrad, Drayton, Jan. 6, 1852, 1852, Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 64 and Maurice French, Pubs, Ploughs and ‘Peculiar People': Town, Farms and Social Life (Toowoomba: University of Southern Queensland Press, 1992), 58.
Martens, Conrad, The Heifer Station, Canning Downs, 11 March 1852, 1852, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 100 and French, 138.
Martens, Conrad, The Washpool, Goomburra, Dec. 26th 1851, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 51; a similar watercolour is in Ellis, 175.
Martens, Conrad, Blacks’ Camp at Gladfield, Dec. 29th 1851, 1851, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Figure 54 and French, Maurice, Conflict on the Condamine, Aborigines and the European Invasion (Toowoomba: Darling Downs Institute Press, 1989), 22.
For example, Coochin 27 Nov. 1851, 1851, a gift for Mrs James Mitchell, now in Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; reproduced in Steele, Plate 5.
