Title

The National Picture.

Author

Author not identified

Source

[Not applicable]

Details

13 May 2002.

Publication date

13 May 2002

Type

News

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

The last novel by Stephen Scheding, A Small Unsigned Painting, was a ‘who done it’ starring Lloyd Rees; The National Picture, is a ‘where is it’ and concerns Benjamin Duterrau. It is about Scheding’s quest for “a lost masterpeice...and the picture it paints of a nations destiny... The National Picture has been lost for more than 150 years. It depicts one of the most controversial moments of Australian history: the ‘conciliation’ of a group of Tasmanian Aborigines by George Augustus Robinson”.

A good read. In the course of its speculations and heartrending quotes (those of Robinson), the book also records much on Duterrau as a printmaker. His etchings of the 1830s are remarkable in the context of their times.

Scheding, Stephen, The National Picture, Sydney: Vintage, 2002.
ISBN 1-74051-066-6