Untitled [Schooner on the Gordon River, Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania]

Artist Haughton Forrest (1826 - 1925)

Date1896

Object number00000911

NamePainting

MediumOil on canvas, framed

DimensionsOverall: 640 x 949 x 310 mm, 4.3 kg
Sight: 459 x 766 mm
Display Dimensions: 459 x 766 x 20 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionOil painting of a schooner on the Gordon River (Port Macquarie) in Tasmania by John Haughton Forrest. The image depicts a coastal trading schooner and a tender on a river with high misty mountains in the distance. The schooner's mizenmast and mainmast are half down, the foremast is being furled by the crew. The area around the harbour is heavily forested.HistoryThe artist Captain James Haughton Forrest achieved considerable fame in colonial society when he arrived from London in August 1876, aged 50. He had retired from the Light Infantry, and had experience working as a marine artist. He was awarded a land grant and a post as a police superintendent, yet quickly established a reputation in Hobart as a marine and landscape painter. He exhibited regularly from 1881, and his works were regular prizes in art union lotteries. Forrest established a relationship with photographer John Watt Beattie and used photography to render the detail evident in his works. He copied Beattie's views with lantern slide projection to paint his larger, majestic landscape works to great acclaim in Tasmania.SignificanceForrest differed from most ship painters in his concern for mood and composition rather than just the ship. He took a literal approach to his subject matter with a craftsman like technique and meticulous attention to detail.