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Conrad Martens
Charles Darwin in the Beagle’s Tender, Coastal Patagonia, Argentina 19th cent wc

1834

About the Item

PROVENANCE: Christie’s South Kensington, England, June 10, 1986; Maynards Auction, Vancouver, Canada, December 6, 1994. This 19th cent wc depicts Charles Darwin in the Beagle’s Tender, Coastal Patagonia, Argentina. The son of an English mother and the Austrian Consul General in London, Conrad Martens pursued a career in painting following his father’s death in 1816. From the age of sixteen he studied under landscape watercolourist Copley Fielding, absorbing the traditions of the English watercolour school and Joshua Reynolds’ theories on painting. In 1833 Martens joined the HMS Beagle on a scientific survey expedition at Montevideo, South America, as ship’s artist, replacing the ailing Augustus Earle. He befriended the ship’s naturalist, Charles Darwin, whose empirical observation of landscape forms and climatic conditions would influence Martens’ practice. Martens left the Beagle in Valparaiso in 1834 and travelled to Australia via New Zealand and Tahiti, settling in Sydney in 1835 and setting up a studio in Pitt Street. Patronised by the colonial elite, he fulfilled many commissions for watercolours of the local landscape and Sydney Harbour, including Elizabeth Bay c1838, which features the grand neoclassical edifice of Elizabeth Bay House, built for the former colonial secretary and noted naturalist Alexander Macleay and set within a picturesque framework of asymmetrical foreground foliage leading to a view of the harbour.
  • Creator:
    Conrad Martens (1801 - 1878, Australian, British)
  • Creation Year:
    1834
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 9.7 in (24.64 cm)Width: 14.6 in (37.09 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    In good, age appropriate condition.
  • Gallery Location:
    Rancho Santa Fe, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU516312957662
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