Title

Angas' Views of the Gold Field of Ophir.

Author

Sydney Morning Herald.

Source

Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney) 18 April 1831 - ongoing

Details

1 September 1851, page 1, column 5.

Publication date

1 September 1851

Type

Publication Review

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Review of colour lithographs by George French Angas for his Six Views of the Gold Field at Ophir.

Full text

ANGAS’ VIEWS or THE GOLD FIELD OF OPHIR. -This work being a series of six views of the Gold Field of Ophir or Summerhill, and Lewis' Ponds Creeks, drawn from nature, and on stone, by Mr. G. F. Angas, has at length been published by Messrs. Woolcott and Clarke, of George-street-and we have had leisure to examine the work as a whole. We have not been deceived in the favourable impression we formed of the work from the first sketch of the series which we formerly noticed. The work comes up to the sample-and is not unworthy the author of "The Kafirs," "The New Zealanders," South Australia," &c, taking into consideration the difficulties connected with lithographic printing in Sydney. Indeed, considering these difficulties, and the many attempts which have hitherto been made to produce specimens of lithographs in chalk, in this colony, the work before us reflects the highest credit on the printer, who has no doubt been tutored in the art by the artist himself. The clearness of line in the sharper touches, and the freedom from rottenness in the lighter and more distant parts, exhibited in the copy now before us, are admirable - far exceeding anything we have seen issue from a Sydney lithographic press; nor do we think Mr. Angas' work would disgrace some of the best lithographic establishments in the mother country. The sketches themselves are spirited, characteristic, and artistical. The drawing and grouping of the figures are excellent on the whole; the different portions of the landscape are thrown in with a free and vigorous pencil; and though we cannot offer an opinion of the copy being true to the original, as we have never had the felicity to visit the Field of Gold ; still it is not unreasonable to suppose that sketches of such talent should be faithful re- presentations of the scenes depicted. There are thousands, however, better able to speak on this subject than ourselves.

The first of the scenes-Gold - washing at Summerhill Creek is one of our favourites. The view is taken from a point about half a mile below the junction of the Summerhill and the Lewis Ponds Creeks. A picturesque bend of the creek is represented wending its way through a gorge between two ranges of lofty mountains, clothed with trees chiefly of the swamp oak species; a party of diggers occupy the foreground, and exhibit, in a very graphic manner, the excavation of the earth, bringing it in buckets to be washed, the rocking of the cradle, and the washing of the residue in a tin dish or prospecting pan. Different parties of diggers are scattered along the creek as far as the eye can reach. This sketch gives a stranger to Ophir more and better information of the diggings and the modis operandi, at a glance, than could be conveyed by a volume of letter-press description.

The second sketch-An Encampment of Gold Diggers -changes the scene from the bustle of busy labour to the stillness and solitude of the tented field. Tents and gunyahs, and temporary stores are scattered about in profusion, and some native women of the Lachlan tribe (we wish they were a little taller or the tree beyond them a little shorter) give variety and local truth to the foreground. The third of the scenes- The Fitz Roy bar- at the junction of the two creeks, is a classic spot, for it was here that the digging for Australian gold commenced. It is similar in character to the first view, but presents greater liveliness and more variety in the employments of the diggers. The trees are well managed on the whole, though the foliage in some cases appears too much detached from the stems, as if it grew all on one side, and "dwelt apart."

In the fourth sketch, a General View of Ophir, there is some clever drawing, but we do not like it so well as the preceding views. It is evidently a bird's-eye prospect, and the horizon is accordingly high; but, if our eye deceives us not, the height of the point of station is not sufficient to account for the extraordinary appearance of the creek. We are aware of the difficulty with which an artist has to grapple in representing a scene far beneath the spot where he stands; but we think the eye would have been better pleased, and the deception - for it is a deception - better preserved, if some large figures had been introduced in the foreground on the left, which would have given distance to the figures in the foreground to the right, rescued them from their present appearance of a race of pigmies, and given a better keeping to the whole scene.

The fifth new represents the Gold Diggers arriving at ' Bathurst on their way to Ophir, and is remarkable chiefly as giving us a slight taste of sketches on the road, and a glance at the town of Bathurst, which has become famous in these days of "nuggets" and gold by the hundred-weight.

The last scene of all is a representation of Summer Hill Creek and part of Church Hill in the distance, taken from Mr. Lane's property above the junction. This sketch calls for no remarks beyond those already offered. It is similar in character to number four. It is cleverly sketched. The lines of the hills on both sides of the creek are, perhaps, rather equally balanced, - owing, no doubt, partly to the nature of the ground, but partly, also we think, to the station which the artist selected. -

On the whole we are highly pleased with the work. It reflects credit alike on the artist, the printer, and the publishers; who, we trust, will all reap some of the treasure, the locality of which, and the mode of finding it, they have combined to portray. It is no mean praise when we say that the work will not detract from the fame of Mr. Angas. And we trust the colonists will not merely extend their patronage to the arts in this instance by furnishing themselves with copies of a work-illustrative of an event in the colony's history-the results of which are likely to exceed our most sanguine hopes; but that they will for the honour and benefit of the colony, send to their friends in the mother country so graphic a picture of that talismanic creek, and those romantic mountains, which must soon give a world-wide I reputation to the land in which we live, and, by a special interposition of Providence, people the boundless wilds of this noble colony, without cost to our exchequer, with a countless number of freemen of the ' staunch Anglo-Saxon race.

[Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September 1851, p.1, col.5.]