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Dr. Howitt’s corner Dandenong Ranges

Eugen von Guérard, 1811-19011862

State Library Victoria

State Library Victoria
Melbourne, Australia

Von Guérard depicts a view looking east towards the Dandenongs across the Treasury Reserve. The high brick fence and garden belong to Dr Godfrey Howitt (1800–1873), physician and natural scientist. Howitt had studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and practised in both Leicester and Nottingham. In 1839 he immigrated with his family to Melbourne and, like Lieutenant Governor La Trobe, brought a pre-fabricated house with him. In 1845 he acquired land at the corner of Collins and Spring Streets, where he erected his home and established a large garden that extended to Flinders Lane. Howitt was involved with the Melbourne Hospital from its establishment, and was President and Honorary Physician of the Benevolent Asylum in North Melbourne. In recognition of his contribution to the study of botany and entomology, the Government Botanist, Ferdinand von Mueller, named a native mallow flower Howittia after him. After Howitt's death, his land was subdivided and in 1877 the building that occupies the site today was constructed. The Library holds an extensive collection of Eugene von Guérard's work, including a companion painting showing the view from the artist's own home in East Melbourne.

Details

  • Title: Dr. Howitt’s corner Dandenong Ranges
  • Creator: Eugen von Guérard, 1811-1901
  • Date: 1862
  • Location: Dandenong Ranges, Victoria
  • Rights: This work is out of copyright. No copyright restrictions apply.
  • lithograph: Painting
  • View more information about this image in the State Library Victoria catalogue: http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/MAIN:SLV_VOYAGER1656589
  • View a full-size version of this image: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/271906
  • Physical dimensions: 16.0 x 24.6 cm. (sight), in frame 33.8 x 42.8 x 5.0 cm.
  • Medium: Oil on paper on composition board
  • A.E. Ferris: Considered one of the most important landscape painters of the 19th century, Eugen von Guérard sought to express the awe-inspiring beauty of the Australian landscape in the German Romantic tradition. While James Smith, art critic for 'The Argus', often criticised what he saw as the artist's laboured technique, von Guérard's contemporaries praised him for not only executing faithful botanical and geological studies, but creating works of art.

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