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Description
London Published August 1856 by Heney Graves & Co, Publishers, to the Queen 6 Pall Mall
This original of this rare print, A Primrose From England, is in the Midland
Collection of Marine Art donated by the Midland Bank plc and the Associated Midland Group to the Power House Museum, Sydney and currently on display in the Mint This reproduction is one of a limited edition
specially commissioned to mark the presentation of this collection to the Museum and comes to you with the Compliments of Associated Midland.
Signed by
D.W. Bob King
Managing Director Associated Midland Group Limited
90/150
A Primrose from England painted by Edward Hopley Lithographed by J.R. Dicksee
Text beneath title reads in parts Dr Ward mentioned to the Royal Institute that a primrose had been taken to Australia in a covered glass case the sensation it created was so great that it was necessary to protect it with a guard, London Heney Graves, 1856 Tinted Lithograph 62 x 74 ''
This coloured lithograph of ‘A Primrose from England’ was created in 1856, engraved from the original oil painting first exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1855. The central feature in this painting is a larger-than-life primrose in full flower. The artist Edward Hopley was inspired to create his painting by reports of an actual event: he transportation of a primrose from England to Melbourne made possible – to the profound excitement of the colonial populace – by the invention of the Wardian Case in 1933. The image was so popular when it was exhibited that it was quickly made into a lithograph print for the mass market.
Though the original painting was created in England, the artist has been careful to craft an image that offers a richly layered narrative on the dual theme of immigration and colonization, using his subject as a vehicle for exploring the emotions associated with the nineteenth-century emigrant experience. He portrays a diverse and multi-racial, cross-section of migrants, each stereotypical of his or her class or station in life, gathered round the Primrose, with individuals from different social strata intermingled in a potentially chaotic space, while others crowd the doorway anxious to gain access to the colony’s latest European import.
- Glass
- Timber frame
- Avenue Art and Framing 87 Avenue Road Mosman NSW 2088 ph 969 3025
- RARE
width 96.5 cm or 38 inches,
height 86 cm or 33.8 inches
