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Important Australian + International Fine Art - 16 August 2023  |  Melbourne

Catalogue
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Lot 65
HIPPA OR PLACE OF RETREAT ON AN ARCH’D ROCK IN NEW ZEALAND WITH A WAR CANOE: & A NONDESCRIPT ANIMAL OF NEW HOLLAND, c.1773

pen, ink and wash on paper

17.5 x 20.5 cm (sheet)


Estimate:
$10,000 – $15,000 (2)

Lot sold: $12,273 (inc. BP)

Lot Details

Description
HIPPA OR PLACE OF RETREAT ON AN ARCH’D ROCK IN NEW ZEALAND WITH A WAR CANOE: & A NONDESCRIPT ANIMAL OF NEW HOLLAND, c.1773

pen, ink and wash on paper

17.5 x 20.5 cm (sheet)

inscribed with title below image
inscribed verso: Robert Wightman / Mill Vale / March 30th 1801.
accompanied by the publication The London Magazine, 1773

Provenance

Private collection, United Kingdom
Private collection, Sydney

Literature

Anderson, J., ‘Elegant Engravings of the Pacific: Illustrations of James Cook’s Expeditions in British Eighteenth-Century Magazines’, British Art Studies, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, Issue 7, November 2017, p. 6

Related works

Hippa or Place of Retreat on an Arch’d Rock in New Zealand with a War Canoe: & a Non Descript Animal of New Holland, c. 1773, engraving illus. in The London Magazine, August 1773, p. 367
 
This work appears to be the preparatory drawing for the related engraving published in 1773, printed in reverse, largely based on images from Sydney Parkinson’s A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas in his Majesty's Ship, the 'Endeavour'. Individual images of the arched rock, war canoe and kangaroo have been combined to create a ‘spectacular glimpse of the Pacific’. In the years following Cook’s first [1768 – 71] and subsequent expeditions to the Pacific, extraordinary images of the region were presented to the public, largely through magazine illustrations.