Conrad Martens | Sydney From Robertson's (Cremorne) Point 1855 | SOLD
City Of Sydney From Robertson’s Point
(Now Cremorne Point)
Lithograph printed in black ink | Hand coloured
18 x 46 cm
SOLD
This rare large lithograph by Martens has been repaired and trimmed.
Housed in a timber frame.
Martens print shows a view of Sydney taken from Robertsons Point later named Cremorne Point. Pinchgut (later Fort Denison) is on the left with a flattened top, the result of Col. Barney’s first attempts to build a fortification about 1840. It remained in this state with no work proceeding until 1855 then construction of the Martello tower structure began. Hence Martens view shows several elements o the Sydney landscape where changes were soon to occur” (Kerr-Fort Denison) -- Conrad Martens: life and Art / Elizabeth Ellis, Sydney : State Library of NSW Press, 1994’
“Martens first indication of his second separately issued lithographic print was an entry in the Account book for 31 May 1854: View of Sydney from Roberson’s Point in pencil with two tints for engraving, Mader £10.10.0. He painted an oil from the same location for his mother-in-law in April 1853. Unlike the 1843 print where Martens owned copies, The 1855 print was a business partnership with funds put up by Frederick Mader, Sydney bookseller, print dealer and publisher and Stuart Donaldson, merchant and politician” --
Conrad Martens: life and Art / Elizabeth Ellis, Sydney : State Library of NSW Press, 1994’, p.50-55. Although published in Sydney, the printing of Martens second lithograph was undertaken in London by Day&Son.
His brother Henry was responsible for all the arrangements, including the selection of draughtsman and printer. The view looks across the Harbour from Cremorne Point” – Painted Panorama, Sydney : Blaxland City Gallery, 1985, p.67.
Extract from: Conrad Martens’ Prints LITHOGRAPHS, ENGRAVINGS & ETCHINGS 1830 – 1878 Page Michael Organ 1992 |
Sydney from Robertson's Point 1855
By the end of the May 1854, Martens had decided on producing a new lithographic view of Sydney as stocks of his 1843 print were diminishing. Martens intended to collaborate with Mr F. Mader, a local book and print seller, and S.A. Donaldson, an ex-patron now resident in England. Mader and Donaldson would provide up-front printing costs and the artist would receive a percentage from sales, along with a commission of 10 guineas to produce the original drawing and two associated tinted drawings.
His account book records the production of the original work for this print as follows: May 31. View of Sydney from Roberson’s Point in pencil and two tints £10.10. Pd. for Engraving, "Mader. In a letter to his brother Henry dated 9 June 1854 (and despatched from Sydney on 12 July), he set out details for the printing of this work: I have just been making arrangements for the publication of a new lithograph View of Sydney in partnership with a Mr [Mader] who will undertake to meet all expenses. My drawing is done and will shortly be sent to the care of Mr. S.A. Donaldson now in London. He is the principal of a Sydney mercantile house. Mr Mader proposes that you shall superintend the engraving &c., if you are so inclined, and that whatever commission you may think right to charge will be paid to you. The choice or selection of a draughtsman will be left to you as well as the printer. Mr. Donaldson alone will be requested to find the necessary funds. As I suppose you will have no objection to undertake the job, I will proceed to give the few necessary directions about it. I hope in the first place that as you are not restricted in the expense, someone may be found who is more skilful than the Mr. Boys who made my other lithographic View. The double printing also I hope may be better executed. The paper I wish to be exactly similar to that of mine, namely thick imperial, a sample of which will be sent with the drawing. I have tinted the drawing of the colour I wish the print to be. The size of the engraving to be that of the drawing which, on imperial paper, will leave a good margin. The paper is, altho' unsized, still fit to take colour if done with care; and I am rather pleased than otherwise with the difficulties which it presents to others. It appears to me that the colour stone is in some measure a substitute for size. The number of copies are to be 500, but the stone is to be kept till further notice. No impressions are to be left for sale in London. I have tinted it that it shall look well without colour, as well as assist me in that operation. I like the kind of granulation which is in [the] first one but there is rather too much of it in the sky. The drawing also of that is in some places hard and wirey and the distances not well preserved. I certainly hope to see it much better done than that ..... I suppose you will consult Ackerman about it. If it turns out well we may get up one or two more in the same way. Once more about the print - as the composition is not good on account of its being too much all in one line, I hope the depth of the bays will be particularly attended to, more especially on one over which I have placed a mark . It is called Farm Cove and partly encircles the Botanic Gardens. I have also made some other notes on the margin which I thought necessary. The lithograph was drawn on stone by T. Picken and printed by Day & Sons, Lithographers of London, around November 1854. Martens noted that 494 impressions had been made. Martens was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his Robertson’s Point lithograph from the printers in England. It ultimately appeared around May 1855 bearing the following title: View of Sydney, N.S.W. Drawn from nature by Conrad Martens On stone by T. Picken. Day & Son Lithrs. to The Queen Published by F. Mader, Sydney, May 1855. The lithograph contained a cream tinted to facilitate later colouring, whereas Martens' 1843 print had a grey base. Though the lithograph stated it was published in Sydney by F. Mader in May 1855, according to the artist's account books he did not receive copies from Mader until 1 July 1855. Unfortunately we do not have any letters recording the artist's opinion of this second lithographic View of Sydney, and whether he was satisfied or not with its production. The arrangements for sales of the print are also somewhat confusing. It appears that Mader retained ownership of the prints, the artist received copies from him, coloured them, and returned them for sale. Martens' account book reveals details of copies received from Mader and resultant sales or gifts of the coloured versions for 1 guinea. This arrangement continued for just over a year, until 9 August 1856, during which period Martens received a total of 27 lithographs for colouring and sale. A Mr Baldwin was the agent for the sale of the View from St Leonards and View of Sydney lithographs from February 1859. After this date Martens records the sale of only 4 of the Robertson’s Point lithographs, between 1859-61. With a total of 31 Robertson’s Point views accounted for by Martens, the question must be asked: What became of the remaining 463 impressions initially printed? It is possible that Mader kept all the uncoloured copies for sale in his shop, selling them uncoloured, or destroying the unsold copies, with Martens only seeing those 31 noted in his account book. As Martens had no dealings with the print seller after Mader purchased a watercolour View of Sydney in June 1860, it is possible the businessman left the Colony around this time, taking any remaining copies of the lithograph with him. The scarcity of surviving copies of both the 1843 and 1854 Sydney view prints suggests that whilst large numbers may have been printed (up to 500 of each), only those relatively few recorded by Martens in his account books (143 and 31 respectively) ever reached the public.
Extracts from the State Library of NSW | Conrad Martens’ Prints LITHOGRAPHS, ENGRAVINGS & ETCHINGS 1830 – 1878 Page Michael Organ 1992 |
Conrad Martens (1801-1878)
Martens was born at Crutched Friars near the Tower of London, the son of J. C. H. Martens, a German merchant from Hamburg who had been appointed Austrian consul to London, where he married an Englishwoman. When his consular term expired Martens set up as a merchant in London. His three sons became artists. Conrad Martens received his training in landscape painting from Copley Fielding, who was the most popular teacher of his time. From him Martens learned the principles of picture-making which stood by him in his later isolation in Australia. After his father's death in 1816 the family moved to Exeter whence Martens practised his water-colour painting in the Devonshire landscape. About 1832 Martens accepted an offer from Captain Francis Blackwood of H.M.S. Hyacinth of a three-year voyage to India. Whilst at Rio de Janeiro he heard that Captain FitzRoy of the Beagle, leader of a scientific survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, wanted an artist to replace Augustus Earle who was leaving the expedition because of ill health. Martens joined the Beagle at Montevideo, and became associated with a group of observant scientists which included Charles Darwin. Without losing his feeling for the picturesque, Martens now became more concerned with factual topography, but the varied interests of the expedition's members greatly widened his experience and had a very positive effect on his later work in Australia. That a lasting friendship developed between him and Darwin is shown by subsequent correspondence. Probably because Captain FitzRoy was obliged to dispense with his second ship, Martens left the Beagle at Valparaiso in October 1834, and on 3 December sailed in the Peruvian for Tahiti, where he spent some time sketching. In March 1835 he sailed for New Zealand, and six weeks arrived in Sydney, which became his home for the rest of his life. It had not been his intention to remain in Australia but he was soon at work and within six months had made sketching expeditions to the Illawarra, the Blue Mountains and Broken Bay. His first residence was in Cumberland Street in the fashionable Rocks area, and from a Pitt Street studio he gave lessons in drawing and painting. In 1837 he married Jane Brackenbury, a daughter of William Carter, later master in equity and registrar of the Supreme Court. Their first child Rebecca was born in 1838, and the second daughter Elizabeth in 1839. A son, born in 1844, died in infancy. Martens had a liking for the North Shore of Sydney with its panoramic vistas of the harbour and foreshores, and in 1844 built a house at St Leonard's. But the 1840s were lean years, and at one time he appears to have sought some financial help from his brother Henry in London. To augment his income he produced a lithographic 'view of Sydney from the North Shore', hand-coloured prints of which sold for a guinea. Later, in 1850 he issued Sketches in the Environs of Sydney, a series of twenty lithographs in five parts. For his water-colours Martens found his purchasers among the élite of Sydney's residents, and among the well-to-do landowners whose houses and holdings he painted. His landscapes show that he worked in New South Wales on the South Coast, and at Bong Bong, Lithgow, Scone and Walcha and in New England. He visited Brisbane several times, and in 1851 made an extensive sketching tour through the Darling Downs. Apart from his travels the theme of Sydney Harbour occupied Martens consistently over a period of thirty-five years. He pictured the harbour under spacious skies, disposing lights and shadows over its headlands with rare compositional skill. He could command the wide sweep of harbour landscape enveloped in pearly atmosphere, yet take note of the characteristic sandstone formations interspersed with banksia and eucalypts in the foreground. His awareness of the European tradition of landscape, deriving from Claude, his curiosity about his new environment, and his reaction to its light all combined with his technical skill to create water-colour landscapes of an extremely high order. He stood alone in his period. His painting confirms principles propounded in a lecture on landscape painting that he delivered in Sydney in 1856. He advocated concentrating the strongest darks in the foreground, and using the highest lights and the deepest darks in such a way as to emphasize the principal objects. As the rigours of a landscape painter's life began to tell on the ageing Martens, his friend Alexander Berry found a post for him in 1863 as a parliamentary librarian. Eight years later, in a letter to the architect and surveyor Robert Russell, one of his earlier pupils, he wrote: 'I still continue to paint, and have several commissions, but have only a little time at my disposal as you may well suppose'. In his later years he developed an interest in astronomy and acquired a telescope from London. His notes and correspondence indicate more than a superficial interest and suggest that he carried his study to some depth. He died on 21 August 1878 and was buried at St Thomas's cemetery, North Sydney, where the rest of his family are also buried. The font in this church, his place of worship for many years, is his handiwork. A portrait of Martens by Dr Maurice Felton is in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, which also houses a comprehensive collection of Martens's water-colours and oils. He is also well represented in the Dixson Galleries of the Public Library of New South Wales, and the National Art Galleries of New South Wales and Victoria. An impressive group of his landscapes is owned by Mr K. R. Stewart of Sydney.
Written by Douglas Dundas 1967- Australian Dictionary of Biography
