25
Edwin Harris 'New Plymouth under Siege, 1860'
Estimate:
$25,000 - $30,000
Sold
$24,000
Live Auction
191 The Collection of John Elliot Lawford | Part 1: Live Auction (Lot 1-94)
ARTIST
Edwin Harris
Category
Description
Edwin Harris [1810-1895]
New Plymouth under Siege, 1860
oil on canvas
370 x 790 mm, in fine gilt frame
Lighters ferry to shore, Major General Pratt, Lieutenant Colonel Carey and a further fifty troops from the steam sloop HMCSS Victoria to the beleaguered town of New Plymouth.
Other vessels depicted include the paddle steamer Tasmanian Maid, the Airedale and the George Henderson.
The town of New Plymouth was in a state of siege at the beginning of the first Taranaki War.
Martial law was proclaimed. The settlers were driven into town, their homesteads burnt by Māori making it necessary to constrict the occupied area and entrench the town.
Lieutenant Colonel Carey together with men of the 40th Regiment arrived off New Plymouth aboard the steamer HMS Victoria on the evening of 3rd August 1860. Their mission to reinforce the garrison which numbered about twelve hundred men.
The historical events recorded in this rare oil painting relate to a watercolour depiction of the same scene held in the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Edwin Harris arrived in NZ in 1841 and is noted for his early views of New Plymouth. He worked briefly as a surveyor for the Plymouth Company and farmed a property in the vicinity of town. His daughter Emily Cumming Harris was a noted botanical artist.
Provenance: Estate of John Lawford.
New Plymouth under Siege, 1860
oil on canvas
370 x 790 mm, in fine gilt frame
Lighters ferry to shore, Major General Pratt, Lieutenant Colonel Carey and a further fifty troops from the steam sloop HMCSS Victoria to the beleaguered town of New Plymouth.
Other vessels depicted include the paddle steamer Tasmanian Maid, the Airedale and the George Henderson.
The town of New Plymouth was in a state of siege at the beginning of the first Taranaki War.
Martial law was proclaimed. The settlers were driven into town, their homesteads burnt by Māori making it necessary to constrict the occupied area and entrench the town.
Lieutenant Colonel Carey together with men of the 40th Regiment arrived off New Plymouth aboard the steamer HMS Victoria on the evening of 3rd August 1860. Their mission to reinforce the garrison which numbered about twelve hundred men.
The historical events recorded in this rare oil painting relate to a watercolour depiction of the same scene held in the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Edwin Harris arrived in NZ in 1841 and is noted for his early views of New Plymouth. He worked briefly as a surveyor for the Plymouth Company and farmed a property in the vicinity of town. His daughter Emily Cumming Harris was a noted botanical artist.
Provenance: Estate of John Lawford.
