Rock study, Sumner

On arriving in New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1890, Petrus van der Velden first stayed with fellow Dutchman Gerrit van Asch at Sumner, near Christchurch. He was reportedly attracted to the ‘plutonic energy displayed in the rugged hills around’.

This focus on what might otherwise be seen as a rather underwhelming landscape was instructive for a local audience. As one newspaper observed, Van der Velden’s ‘New Zealand pictures teach us what can be found even in our most ordinary scenery’.