Heads of the people

Two of Adelaide's earliest 'art' printers, the Glaswegians John Penman and William Galbraith, produced the lithographic series of Samuel Thomas Gill's 'Heads of the people' in 1849. Gill sketched various male characters from early Adelaide for a complete set of 20 heads, released in May, July, and September of that year. The finely executed works demonstrate both Gill's versatility, and Penman and Galbraith's technical ---.

This is the first set in the series.

Features (clockwise from top left hand corner):

1 George Selth Coppin (1819-1906), identified as 'Acting Surveyor General', was a notable actor and owner of the Auction Mart Tavern and Exchange Hotel.

2 Emanuel Solomon (1800-1873), identified as 'ex Dorset', was a merchant, auctioneer, Member of Parliament and owner of the Queen's Theatre and the neighbouring Temple Tavern in Gilles Arcade. In 1871 he financed a banquet, held at the Town Hall, for 520 'pioneers' to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the foundation of South Australia.

3 Boulter Gabriel Raye, identified as 'Gentleman in the bush', was a pastoralist from Wellington.

4 Samuel Stocks Junior, (1813-1850) identified as 'Stocks at par') was a merchant, original shareholder and later resident manager at the Burra Mine.

ST Gill was one of the most prolific water-colour painters working in Australia in the nineteenth century. He was an artist who was often out in the field in the Adelaide Hills or the Flinders Ranges, and on the spot at mine sites, in city streets, at Port Adelaide, the races or at the Agricultural and Horticultural Society's annual show. He was part of Horrocks' expedition of 1846 to central Australia, where he offered a free service as official illustrator.

In 1840, Gill established a studio in Adelaide and advertised for those desirous of obtaining correct likenesses of themselves, families or friends, animals, local scenery and residences, to contact him. He captured detailed scenes of colonial life in the streets of Adelaide and Melbourne, in the South Australian countryside and on the Victorian gold fields.