Wieneke Archive Book 4h : Art Sales Presscuttings

SALEROOM . . . with Terry Ingram TWO CLOCK DEALERS MAKE A BIG STRIKE THE purchasers of the Thomas Watling view rif early Sydney for the sur- prise equivalent of $44,130 at Sotheby's in London last Wednesday were the two dealers per- haps best known for their expertise and interest in antique clocks. Neither of the purchasers, Mr john Hawkins of Sydney. and Ronald Lee, of London, who have an equal equity in the painting, had bought an Australian painting before. However, both have a record for -handling works of an ex- ceptional nature and conceiv- ably it was their very interest in "time" itself (Hawkins is the author of Thomas Cole and Victorian Clockmaking and Lee the authoritative study of the Knibb family of ck)ekma- kers) which helped bring home to them the significance of the picture and encouraged them to pay more than three times Sotheby's estimate. "Australian paintings are out of my field," John Hawkins admits. "But the work is not so much a painting as an historical docu- ment, "Imagine the price of a manuscript ing early Sydney. the size. colour and dimensions of its buildings, and just think how thick such a document would have to be," he adds. "We are talking about Syd- ney in 179b, only the eighth year of settlement." says Hawkins. who has dated the picture from an early NSW al manack, an early map and historical records. The key to dating the picture is the one distant windmill. In 17% there was one such windmill, nearly two years later, a few hundred yards away, there was another. Also, the houses are very white: Records show that in 17% enough sea shells had been collected and crushed to Iii ITA( FoTha AU ices se; Ar Pr The Council assists selected applicants to develop skills in arts administration through traineeships with approved organisations in Australia. Attendance at formal training courses overseas is also occasionally made possible. A limited number of grants will be available in the present financial year. Traineeships. Arts organisations or performing companies may receive a contribution of up to 50 per cent of the salary and expenses of a trainee administrator lot an initial period of between 6 and 12 months. Applications may be made either by potential trainees or by organisations, but grants will be paid only to the latter. Applications must contain details of the trainee, the organisation and the proposed training program. The expected maximum level of Council assistance for each traineeship is $5,000 per annum. Formal Courses. At present longer courses are available only overseas. Individuals may apply for assistance with fees and living expenses in connection with attendance at approved courses. Evidence of acceptance Into a course will be required. Grants will be made only on the understanding that trainees will return to Australia within a reasonable period. Applications should be made by 8 December 1978 to: The Secretary, Arts Administration Training Program, Australia Council, P.O. Box 302, NORTH SYDNEY, N.S.W., 2080. A View of Sydney (66 by 136 cm/ showing the sun rising over Sydney Heads, by Thomas Watling. make lime to paint all the Government houses white. The painting, which the writer saw on a recent visit to London, is a topographically correct view of Sydney. pre- sumably, considering its size, done on commission, but cer- tainly not, like many topogra- phical pictures, boring. The artist was noted for a certain romance in his ap- proach. Appropriately perhaps the sloping building in the centre of the picture is the jail. The large building on the far right is the. grainary, and on the left the houses of such prominent earls, citizens as Shad Shaw, Simeon Lord and Captain Raven can be identified. "Tell me a more imprtani Australian painting," Mi Hawkins demands. "It's no kitschy little water colour but a thumping great oil." II is also one of only two oil paintings by Watling, a Scot, who sailed for an enforced spell in NSW in 1791 after being convicted of forgery, and is as stinted to have left in 1797. The picture was sold by Sotheby's on behalf of Mrs E. I I lart of Leicestershire and for the past three years has been on loan to the Derby Museum and Art Gsllcry. 111610WAINtioa - 7(.; Hawkins, who has not seen the picture but had Mr Lee look at it. says that he might almost have stumbled across the paint- ing in the museum as he has long wanted to go to Derby to do some work on the Whi- hurst family, a noted firm of Derby clockmakers. The other oil is in the Dixson Galleries at the Library of NSW and shows a shorter dis- tant panorama of Sydney,. a "direct, north general view.' The oil sold last week was painted from where St Phillips ( Iiiirch stands today. Both paintings have a similar provenance hav,ing been pur- chased in Yorkshire in the late Igth century. Professor Bernard Smith, of the Power Institute of Fine Arts, Sydney. assisted in cataloguing the picture. Basing his opinion on photographs he firmly attributed the picture to Thomas Watling, OPENING Thtl GEO HOOT EXHIB1 At PROUDS AR Cnr. King & Sydiv Director. 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