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913067

Title
Album of drawings and photographs, including watercolour views of St Heliers, Muswellbrook, N.S.W., ca. 1830-1860 / drawings chiefly by Christiana Susan Dumaresq and photographs attributed to Matthew Fortescue Moresby
Creator
Christiana Susan Dumaresq, d. 1868
Call number
PXB 482
Level of description
fonds
Date

ca. 1830-1860
Type of material
Graphic Materials, Drawings, Watercolours, Photographs
Reference code
913067
Physical Description
9 watercolours
11 drawings - pencil
15 photographs - mainly albumen
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Christiana Susan Dumaresq (nee McLeay) (d. 1868) was the second daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth McLeay. Alexander McLeay was appointed Colonial Secretary of N.S.W. in June 1825, arriving with his family in Sydney in January 1826. Christiana married William John Dumaresq (1793-1868) in Sydney on 15 October 1830. They had two sons and two daughters. She died on 2 May 1868 at Tivoli, Rose Bay, aged 68.

The McLeay family were significant patrons of Conrad Martens. Alexander McLeay bought Martens' pictures, the most notable being that of his house at Elizabeth Bay. His sons and sons-in-law also acquired pictures of houses and properties. In the 1840s Martens began giving private lessons to members of a number of prominent families including the Dumaresqs of Tivoli.

St Heliers, near Muswellbrook, N.S.W., was the estate of Henry Dumaresq (1792-1838). Henry and William John Dumaresq were brothers.

Matthew Fortescue Moresby, an amateur photographer, sketcher, and clerk, was stationed in Sydney between 1856 and 1860 as paymaster-in-chief of the first British naval station in Australia under the command of Commodore William Loring of the flagship Iris. It appears he began taking photographs during this period. The photographs he took while in Sydney include the harbour, Government House, the Iris, portraits, and photographs of Sydney residences including Tivoli at Rose Bay.

References:
Conrad Martens : life & art / Elizabeth Ellis. Sydney : State Library of New South Wales Press, 1994.
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition. http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/ (accessed 16 December 2010).
Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. http://www.daao.org.au/ (accessed 25 November 2010)
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 16 October 1830, The Sydney Morning Herald 4 May 1868 and 21 November 1868 on Trove. http://www.trove.nla.gov.au/ (accessed 16 December 2010)
Collection history
By descent through the family of Rear Admiral John Saumarez Dumaresq CB, CVO (1873-1922), grandson of the artist.
Scope and Content
Comprises an album (approx. 20.0 x 27.0 x 2.0 cm) containing 11 pencil sketches and 9 watercolours, ca. 1830-1850, and 15 photographic prints by Matthew Fortescue Moresby, ca. 1856-1860 (mostly albumen, possibly some of prints are salt prints)

1. The room with the Portrait! - a loose pencil sketch showing a man entering a room with a portrait of a man over the fireplace
2. [Partial pencil sketch of a road and bridge or fence]
3. [Pencil sketch of trees and a bridge or fence] - inscribed in pencil 'Water'[?] at bottom of sketch
4. St Heliers, 10th August 1831 [watercolour]
5. Continuation from preceding Page, 10 August 1831 [watercolour]
6. St Heliers from the orchard at the back of the House, 30th August 1831 [watercolour]
7. Front view of St Heliers, 1st Sept. 1831 [watercolour]
8. [Pencil sketch of house amongst trees and hills]
9. View near Segenhoe, on the Page [watercolour]
10-15. [Pencil sketches of fenced garden with fenced paddocks and mountains in background]
16. [Watercolour of a verandahed house, outbuilding, and garden]
17. [Watercolour of outbuilding and garden] - different view of building depicted in Item 16
18. [Watercolour of bush landscape, ca. 1845-1850 / attributed to the circle of Conrad Martens] - on card fixed into album
19. [Watercolour of Sydney from St Leonards, ca. 1845-1850 / attributed to the circle of Conrad Martens] - on card fixed into album
20. [Photograph of cabbage tree palm, Tivoli, Sydney] / MFM [i.e. Matthew Fortescue Moresby]. Identified from similar photograph at PXA 6/16
21-22. [Photographs of Sydney Harbour taken from the roof of Government House]
23-26. [Photographs of Sydney Cove taken from Government House]
27. [Photograph of Sydney Cove taken from Government House including view of Customs House]
28. [Photograph of rocky foreshore and jetty[?]]
29. [Photograph of ship, possibly Iris]
30. [Photograph of unidentified ship]
31. [Photograph of birds and nest]
32-34. [Photographs of paintings and statue]
35. [Pencil sketch of floor plan of Syndale Park] - rooms on the plan are named, including one named 'Colvile's private Room [?]'.
Charlotte Darling (1831-1912), third daughter of Sir Ralph Darling and Eliza Dumaresq, married Kent Hyde Francis Colvile of Syndale Park, on 19 June 1850.
Access Conditions

Access via appointment
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Description source

Some drawings titled and dated
General note

Digital order no:Album ID : 1161451
Signatures / Inscriptions

Front fly leaf inscribed in ink 'Christiana Susan Dumaresq, 13th October 1830'
Attributions / conjectures

Items 4 to 7 attributed to Christiana Susan Dumaresq by Bonhams. Items 16 and 17 are in a different style to the views of St Heliers and attributed by Bonhams as possibly being by one of her daughters.

Items 18 and 19 titled, dated and attributed to circle of Conrad Martens by Bonhams.

All photographs dated and attributed to Matthew Fortescue Moresby by Curator of Photographs, Mitchell Library, January 2011.

Reference:
Bonhams, Travel and Exploration, Sale 17849, 15 September 2010, Lot 16. http://www.bonhams.com/ (accessed 1 September 2010)
Conservation note

Some photographs are faded
Creator/Author/Artist
Moresby, Matthew Fortescue, 1828-1918
Subject
Photography--New South Wales--19th century.
Art, Colonial--New South Wales.
Watercolor painting, Australian.
Albums--New South Wales
Topic
sketches
interiors (buildings)
watercolours
landscapes (artwork)
landscapes (views)
trees
fences
houses
mountains
gardens
creeks
cabbage tree palms
rivers
paddocks
ships
Place
St Heliers (N.S.W.)
Sydney Harbour (N.S.W.)
Sydney Cove (N.S.W.)
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IE285749