Jim Haynes’ not-so-famous Aussie characters
Aussie historian, author & entertainer Jim Haynes joins Overnight each week for his unique knowledge of the not-so-famous characters from Australia’s history. This week Jim shines the spotlight on Conrad Martens – Sydney’s pre-eminent landscape painter.
Conrad Martens (21 March 1801 – 21 August 1878) was an English-born landscape painter active on HMS Beagle from 1833 to 1834. He arrived in Australia in 1835 and painted there until his death in 1878.
He exhibited at the Victorian Fine Arts Society in Melbourne in 1853, and at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855. Eventual improvement in the Australian economy in the later 1850s (largely due to the discovery of gold) led to an increase in significant commissions.
A famous painting is North Head, Sydney Harbour (1854). In 1862 he received a letter from Darwin, and replied congratulating him on the success of On the Origin of Species.
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