david coombe history
A list of articles (web pages) for the S T Gill project in alphabetical order.
In July 1846 Gill gave a supper for friends before leaving on John Horrocks' expedition, this being the subject of an oddly lengthy newspaper report. Featuring Australia's first camel, a dubious newspaper reporter and unidentified expeditioners.
'But on reaching the final appendix I found extensive plagiarism. This took the book beyond being merely derivative and I decided to review it after all.' A review of the book 'Colonial Artist S. T. Gill' by Doug Limbrick (2023).
Some of Gill's pictures were used by George French Angas in London in 1846-1847: in his Egyptian Hall exhibition and his books South Australia Illustrated and Savage Life and Scenes.
H. C. Jervis made engravings in Adelaide of landmark buildings in 1841-1842. Initials C.W.C on them became an art history red herring. More likely they're based on originals by S. T. Gill. There are links too with the 1842 Kingston map.
S.T. Gill accompanied John Ainsworth Horrocks' small expedition from July to September 1846. Both Gill and Horrocks made expedition journals. This article reproduces Horrocks' journals as it was transcribed and published in 1906.
Analysis of a pencil sketch of the German village of Klemzig. A comparison of the Klemzig pictures of F.R. Nixon, G. F. Angas and S.T. Gill. I re-attribute the sketch from Angas to Gill, revealing more of the collaboration between them.
Previously attributed to Governor George Gawler, this is by Gill for Gawler in 1840/1841. The earliest known picture of new Government House. It's before Gill developed his typical foreground doodling and busyness of characters.
An overarching outline of 1847 with links to catalogue articles on Gill's major efforts that year. This article also includes 1847 works not catalogued elsewhere.
'An Exhibition of Pictures, principally the work of Colonial Artists' ran over a week from Thursday 11 February 1847 and showed 178 pictures. Gill was the most prolific exhibitor with 62 entries, including his 33 work Horrocks series.
1848. Second exhibition of artists. Economic depression in Britain impacted Gill's moneyed clients. But year end heralded a broader market for Gill's works with the arrival in Adelaide of lithographers Penman and Co.
An S. T. Gill miscellany.
A list of narrative articles in the S.T. Gill project in approximate chronological order. (Many of the pages also have forward and backward narrative links.)
About the S.T. Gill project : how it started, how it's going, rationale, scope, approach, method, content, how to access content and acknowledgements.
This project links to several articles on J.A. Horrocks, his 1846 expedition and S.T. Gill's related works (which tended to the generic over time). This article provides a structural overview of their contents.
An index to art works referenced in the S. T. Gill project web pages and associated online maps. Includes some works by artists other than Gill.
A list of articles (web pages) for the S T Gill project in alphabetical order.
A list of indexes, contents and other lists for the S T Gill project.
Help resources for the S.T. Gill project. Includes Key to Collecting Institutions.
List of references (a select bibliography) for the S.T. Gill project.
Several 'Gill' watercolours surfaced in the 1890s with connections to amateur artist Margaret Cochrane Scott nee Little and daughter journalist Winnifred 'Magpie' Scott. Two were fake. These and others had the uncommon 'STG Adelaide' signatures.
This is a select catalogue of S.T. Gill's early colonial works. The focus is on S.T. Gill's life and work from his arrival in South Australia in December 1839 up to his early time at the Victorian gold rush in 1852-53.
S.T. Gill continued to portray South Australia after he left there in early 1852. This article lists works I think are Gill's retrospectives of South Australia, with an emphasis on the works Appleyard dated in the South Australian years.
Gill frequently portrayed the Aboriginal corroboree. This article places these in context and relates them to corroboree works by W.R. Govett and J.M. Skipper. Pictures range in date from 1844 to 1874.
S. T. Gill's subject of an extinct crater is based on a (non-volcanic) rock formation seen on Captain E.C. Frome's 1843 northern expedition. Gill's views were probably based on a sketch by expedition member James Henderson.
The Mount Gambier pictures attributed to S.T. Gill and George French Angas. I re-attribute the 'Blue Lake' watercolour from Angas to Gill.
Gill portrayed the Aboriginal elevated mortuary platform in his 'Native Sepulchre' images. Also included are works by E.C. Frome, G.F. Angas and W.A. Cawthorne. Date range: 1840 to 1870s.
S.T. Gill frequently portrayed the shepherd and his dog with a flock. Showing Gill's shepherd pictures from around 1840 to 1874.
S.T. Gill made several images representing the departure from Adelaide of Charles Sturt's Great Northern Expedition on 10 August 1844. He executed from two distinct view points one city block apart.
List of articles dealing with some of S.T. Gill's specific artistic subjects.
Works by S.T. Gill in the period 1844 to 1846, not elsewhere included.
Background and a list of the maps in the S.T. Gill project, including more general maps for 1840s South Australia.
JOHN ROWE 1847. Gill's 'The Seasons and The Months' have been misidentified since being acquired by NLA in 1932. Solving this mystery overturns the last 35 years of art history's dating of Gill's earliest Australian works.
In April 1847 S.T. Gill sketched the Burra Burra Mine and its township Kooringa on behalf of the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). He made a set of seven views. Several SAMA proprietors ordered copy sets.
In February 1850 S.T. Gill returned to the Burra Burra Mine and its township Kooringa to refresh images for the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). Featured: Patent Copper Company's smelting works and Roach's engine-house.
1844/1845. Watercolours for Captain E.C. Frome, Surveyor General and Colonial Engineer.
February 1849: Sectional sketches of Kapunda copper mine for Captain E.C. Frome, Surveyor General and Colonial Engineer.
1844/1846. Eliezer Levi Montefiore – businessman and Gill student.
1844-45. George French Angas made a splash in South Australia in two visits (interrupted by a trip to New Zealand). He left on 2 July 1845, a fortnight after his art exhibition and its associated controversy.
1846/February 1847. Five vignettes showing activities of Aboriginal people. For George Hamilton who over-painted two of the pictures. Extensive reverse notes transcribed.
S.T. Gill accompanied John Ainsworth Horrocks' small expedition from July to September 1846. This article has a selection of retrospective works on the subject that are outside the scope of Gill's South Australian period catalogue.
September-November 1845. Series of watercolours and wash drawings commissioned by James Allen for his 1846 promotional lecture tour of England.
Lieutenant John Napier Magill (1819-1848), 96th Regiment, posted to South Australia 1842-1846. Magill was a flautist and artist, painting views of Flinders Street barracks. Gill watercolours for Magill and Captain W.D. Chard.
December 1849 - early 1850. A lithograph (Penman & Co.) of a fete at Prospect House on 20 December 1849. Five watercolours in 1850 of the house, grounds and setting for J.B. Graham.
February-April 1847. To illustrate Charles Sturt's book 'Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia ...'. Watercolours (known and unknown) by Gill.
March 1851. The story behind S.T. Gill's cheeky lithograph of the Old Colonists' Festival Dinner.
1840. Two portraits of John Ainsworth Horrocks known only by early black and white photographs. I attribute them to Gill and date them to early 1840.
WA Cawthorne (1824-1897): school teacher, amateur artist, documenter of Aboriginal culture. George French Angas' 'South Australia Illustrated'. The relationship with Gill, his art master from February 1845.
S. T. Gill was in the Barossa sketching for the Angas family from 29 October to 4 November 1844. I identify some works as well as influences on Angas publications 'South Australia Illustrated' and 'Barossa Range and its neighbourhood'.
S.T. Gill accompanied John Ainsworth Horrocks' small expedition from July to September 1846. This article focusses on Gill's artistic work on the expedition, rather than his exhibition works after returning.
On 16 December 1844 explorer Edward John Eyre departs Adelaide on the barque 'Symmetry' for England, taking with him paintings by Gill.
March 1850 to March 1851. Changing fortunes. Prospect House; Gill's Newfoundland dog; competition from oil painters; portraits from Daguerreotypes; Gill's hand injury; financial pressure; William Vansittart's horse portraits.
Gold became the topic of interest in May 1851. Gill insolvent. Series of 3 lithographs of Adelaide's main streets, suggest the view was to the east and gold. Horse portraits. Angas paints NSW diggings.
After the commission for James Allen and South Australian Company, in November 1845 Gill briefly trialled Daguerreotype (photography). Little is known about what he did next, up until the time he left on Horrocks' expedition in July 1846.
December 1848 - August 1849. Lithographers Penman & Co.; J.A. Gilfillan; T. Rider; Gill's 'Heads of the People' in May, July, August 1849.
September 1849 - February 1850. Fetes and house paintings. Gill embraced lithography and its larger market, whilst continuing watercolours for clients.
September 1846 to January 1847. Gill develops his series of 33 works of the Horrocks' expedition, raffled and shown at the February 1847 Exhibition of Pictures.
1840/1846. Simple postcard sized wash drawings labelled 'Series of Adelaide Views' and numbered (on the back) showing the built environment of Adelaide and the Port.
1844~. Set of 8 wash drawings of South Australian scenes - natural, Aboriginal, rural and the built environment, based on subjects in J.F. Bennett's book. Plus other related works.
1849. Ten wash drawings of South Australian scenes - natural, Aboriginal, rural and exploration - likely for Captain John Bishop of Port Lincoln.
January 1849. Twelve wash drawings of South Australian scenes - natural, Aboriginal and rural - possibly intended for lithography.
Sets of wash drawings of South Australian scenes, illustrating for an English audience the colony's notable natural characteristics, the Aboriginal people and their practices, and rural life. 1844 to 1849.
Winter 1847. 'The Seasons and The Months'. A series originally of 16 pictures commissioned by Lieutenant John Roe. 'July' is missing. Key to redating Gill's work.
S.T. Gill's life and work. A catalogue and analysis of his works and a narrative from his arrival in South Australia in late 1839 to his early time at the Victorian gold rush in 1852-53.