Item 01: Mama [Charlotte Atkinson, ca. 1842-1846 / portrait attributed to C. E. Atkinson]

P2/368

file

ca. 1842-1846

Graphic Materials, Watercolours

446189

1 drawing - 22.4 x 17.5 cm. (image) ; 31.9 x 25.5 cm. (sheet) - watercolour and pencil

Charlotte Waring (later Barton) was an artist, author, and governess who was born in London. On the voyage to Australia in 1826 she met James Atkinson whom she married the following year. In 1836, two years after James's death, Charlotte married George Bruce Barton. Charlotte is credited with writing the first children's book in Australia, "A Mother's Offering to her Children" published in 1841.

Reference:
Dictionary of Austalian Artists / by Joan Kerr. Melb, Vic : Oxford University Press, 1992.

The portrait depicts the right profile of a female wearing a lace edged white cap tied beneath the chin with a brown ribbon.

Out of copyright: Creator died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

The work is not signed or dated.
Believed by the donor to have been painted by the sitter's eldest child, Charlotte Elizabeth, before her marriage on 22 July 1847. For further information, see notes filed at PXn 836.
The handwritten caption and style of presentation (the upper edge of the drawing is affixed to card) is similar to other portraits from the same donor located at P2/368-371.

Titled beneath image in ink, "Mama."