Name/TitleView of Sydney from the North Shore
About this objectConrad Martens (1801-1878), perhaps the best known of all colonial artists, arrived in Sydney in 1835 after working his way around the world, including a year’s appointment as artist on the hydrographical survey voyage aboard BEAGLE, during which his shipmate was Charles Darwin.
Martens established himself in the relatively lucrative business of teaching drawing and painting from his premises in The Rocks. He moved to St Leonards, as the North Shore of Sydney was then known, in 1844 and built a Gothic style sandstone house, Rockleigh Grange, on five acres of land with his wife Jane, the daughter of William Carter – Sheriff and later Registrar-General of the Colony. They remained there for the rest of his life.
MakerConrad Martens - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made1849
Period19th century
Medium and MaterialsPaper and watercolour
Place MadeSydney, Australia
Inscription and MarksSigned and dated lower left, C. Martens 1849.
Measurements290mm x 440mm
Object TypeLandscape Paintings
Object numberSF000846
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art