Four bridges - but which is which?
Conrad Martens: Archive | Beagle Journal 1833-4 | Brush Scene, Illawarra 1850-1 | Campbell House 1838-9 (2) | Four bridges? | Illawarra, 1835 | Mullet Creek, Illawarra 1853 | The Picturesque |
On 19 August 2021 a watercolour was offered for sale by Leonard Joel, Melbourne, with the following description: John Skinner Prout, Landscape (possibly Tasmania), watercolour on paper, 18 x 27cm; framed: 43 x 49cm. Condition: foxing throughout with significant foxing in centre and left of work. It failed to sell on that occasion. The watercolour, in sepia wash (reproduced below), featured a mountain road flanked by a steep rocky wall on the left, a tree-lined small valley or creek cutting on the right, and leading to a stone bridge situated at right angles to the direction of the road, backed by a wooded hill.
The bridge appeared short, with a semi-circular arch and two stone piers visible on either side of the structure. This wash drawing was done in the Picturesque manner by the artist, with the trees and cliff face forming a border which drew the eyes of the viewer in towards the bridge in the middle distance. There were no figures in the work. Judging by style and brush work, it was obvious to the current author that the watercolour was not by by John Skinner Prout, but some other colonial period artist. Also, the bridge in question was not a Tasmanian bridge, as suggested by the auction entry, but likely one of four constructed in New South Wales between 1832-39 by David Lennox, Superintendent of Bridges, on behalf of then Surveyor General Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (Selkirk 1920, Berger 2005). But which bridge? The four Lennox designed and built bridges, three of which survive, were:
- Mitchell's Pass / Horseshoe Bridge, Lapstone Hill, Glenbrook. Built using convict labour between 1832-33 and located at Mitchell's Pass, adjacent to the Nepean River and on the old Great Western / Bathurst road from Sydney, heading west over the Blue Mountains (Hubert Architects 2008).
- Lansdowne Bridge, Prospect Creek, connecting Parramatta with the road south towards Liverpool, Built between 1834-35.
- Berrima Bridge, Wingecarribee River, 1834-35. Designed along similar lines to the Lansdowne Bridge, though smaller. Destroyed by a flood in 1860.
- Parramatta Bridge, 1836-39. Also built along similar lines to the Lansdowne Bridge, and of a similar size.
On first glance, the 'Skinner Prout' wash drawing appeared to be more in the style of Conrad Martens, an English watercolourist resident in New South Wales from 1835 through to his death there in 1878. Though both Skinner Prout and Martens worked in the English watercolour tradition and were resident in New South Wales during the 1840s, their application of paint, and working technique varied. For example, Martens' watercolours were soft and romantic, with subtle brush strokes, whilst remaining accurate to the landscape view as much as the application of the Picturesque methodology allowed. Skinner Prout, on the other hand, was not so constrained by Picturesque norms, and his brush work was rougher, displaying less of a romantic or Picturesque bent. This can be seen in his 1842 watercolour of the Tank Stream, Sydney, with a stone bridge in the background; and a later English work of a similar bridge over a creek in a mountainous setting. The brush strokes are smaller, jagged and obvious.
The roughness of the brush strokes, and awkwardness of the required Claudean Picturesque structural elements, reveals aspects of Skinner Prout's oeuvre.
 |
| (?) J.S. Prout, Waterfall, 1835. |
In comparison, a sepia wash and pencil drawing attributed to the 'Circle of John
Skinner Prout', signed and dated by an unknown hand on the rear '35 /
J.S. Prout', passed at auction in Sydney in 2012. This work presented a view - most likely English - of a bridge and
waterfall and possesses similarities to the watercolour under discussion. It also pointed to the fact that many English
watercolourists of the time worked with brown and sepia
washes. Whether this was actually a work by Prout is unknown, and it is often the case with washes such as this that they are preliminary, unfinished works with no precise attribution. Though other English
washes from the 1830s bear Skinner Prout's signature, he does not appear to
have used this method whilst in Australia, with only pencil sketches and
coloured watercolours extant. We therefore need to look elsewhere.
Conrad Martens is known to have regularly worked with sepia and brown washes, especially during the late 1830s and early 1840s. He also produced a number of views of two bridges by Lennox during the second half of the 1830s and through to the 1850s - namely, for those at Mitchell's Pass and Lansdowne. These were in the form of pencil sketches and works in watercolour and oil. No similar works by Skinner Prout are known, though he did reside in nearby Sydney between 1841-44 and visited places outside of there including coastal towns Broulee and Wollongong to the south. In order to pin down the identity of the supposed Skinner Prout wash, relevant known contemporary views of the New South Wales Lennox bridges are reproduced below and discussed. They are arranged chronologically by bridge location.
1. Mitchell's Pass Bridge
* Robert Marsh Westmacott, Road from Emu Plains over the Blue Mountains. The first stone bridge built in New South Wales, coloured lithograph, London, 1848. It is likely this image is based on an original sketch taken around 1832 by Westmacott, who was Aid-de-Camp to Governor Richard Bourke at the time. His image is an early one, as it was taken prior to the placement of stone parapets on the edges of the bridge by the roadway. These were meant to prevent individuals and wagons from falling off the bridge. The lack of parapets is clearly visible in Westmacott's print published in 1848, with a workman digging next to the exposed roadway on the right, again suggesting that it was taken at the time of bridge construction, or preparation for the official opening by Governor Bourke.
* Conrad Martens, Bridge at Mitchell's Pass, April 25, '35, pencil on paper, 19.4 x 30 cm, State Library of New South Wales.
This image is contained in one of Martens' sketchbooks and was taken in situ on 25 April 1835 by the artist during his initial journey from Sydney over the Blue Mountains, just a week after his arrival in the colony. Martens eventually worked the pencil sketch up into watercolours during September, following his journeying through areas to the north, west and south of Sydney. It is possible that the 'Skinner Prout' watercolour under discussion is one of these preliminary sketches by Martens, done during September 1835 and preliminary to producing works on this subject for sale. The argument for this is presented below.
* (attributed to) John Skinner Prout, Unknown landscape [Tasmanian Bridge], sepia wash on paper (foxed), 18 x 27 cm. Auction: Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 19 August 2021 (unsold).
The view is most likely Mitchell's Bridge, though there are a few problems with such an attribution: 1) As can be seen from the Westmacott view of the Mitchell's Pass bridge, its side face is flush and even, whilst in the 'Skinner Prout' watercolour there are two ridges in the side face, marking the piers holding up the arch. These piers are visible in the 1835 Martens watercolour version of the view, detailed below, and are also a feature of the Lansdowne and Parramatta bridges (described below); 2) In the Westmacott view and the Martens' views of Mitchell's Bridge, the width of the viaduct is small, comprising a tight semi-circle. The angle of the arch in the 'Skinner Prout' bridge is slightly wider than that of the Horseshoe Bridge / Mitchell's Pass bridge, but not as wide as the Lansdowne and Parramatta bridges; and 3) There is a central raised section (like a pier head) in the Martens Mitchell Bridge that cannot be seen in the 'Skinner Prout' bridge view. Whether this was simply omitted by the artist, or points to another bridge, is unknown. The only equivalent bridge in Tasmania is the 1834 Kerry Lodge, or Strathroy Bridge, built of bluestone (volcanic) masonry, as opposed to the sandstone masonry and different features of the Lennox bridges in New South Wales.
The bridge was built by convict labour in 1835 and has a similar profile to Mitchell's Pass bridge. However, the surrounding countryside is very different - flat land on either side - and the detail more complex, due to the nature of the volcanic rock, and evident in features such as the ragged top edges. The watercolour under discussion is obviously therefore not of the Strathroy Bridge. Despite the discrepancies outlined above, there are obvious similarities between the 'Skinner Prout' wash drawing and Conrad Martens' subsequent works in watercolour and oil of the Mitchell's Pass bridge and surrounds, as described below.
* Conrad Martens, Mitchell's Bridge, watercolour on paper, 29 September 1835, sold by Martens for £10.10 and presented to Governor Bourke prior to his departure from the colony. Reference: Account of Pictures. This is most likely the following work: Conrad Martens, Mitchell's Pass and Lennox Bridge, 1835, watercolour on paper, 46 x 67 cm, National Library of Australia NLA2390726. The faded watercolour is reproduced below, along with a closeup of the bridge section.
In this view, the upper features of the bridge vary from that shown in the Westmacott print, though the sandstone arch is identical. The historic photographs of the bridge included below, dating from the 1890s and early 1900s, along with a contemporary shot and a drone video closeup, show the past and present state of the bridge, again with variants in the upper features from those shown in the Westmacott and Martens works, though the Westmacott version appears closest to the actuality. This suggests that Martens may have taken liberties with that portion of the bridge, based perhaps on discussions with Lennox due to the similarities between the upper portion of his view of Mitchell's bridge and that of the Lansdowne bridge. Martens had drawn stone bridges before, in England prior to coming to Australia.
* Conrad Martens, Lapstone Hill Bridge, Blue Mountains, 1836, watercolour on paper, 18 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches. Sold at auction, Maggs Brothers, London, 1965. This is a variant of the Mitchell's Bridge view. Present location is unknown.
* Conrad Martens, Lennox Bridge, 1838. No further information available on this work.
* Conrad Martens, Mitchell's Bridge, c.1843, pencil on paper. DL PX19 f.22. Preliminary sketch for a work in oil. This is most likely a variant on the original April 1835 pencil sketch, done by Martens in his Sydney studio.
* Conrad Martens, Mitchell's Bridge / Mountain Pass, Emu Plains, Road to Bathurst, 1843, oil on canvas, 40.6 x 60.8 cm. Signed and dated lower left. Sold to G.W. Evans, on 18 January 1844 for £12.12. Reference: Account of Pictures. Sold at auction by Sothebys in 1988 and therein erroneously dated 1853 and likewise titled Riverstone Bridge. Present whereabouts unknown.
* Conrad Martens, Bridge, Nepean, 1854. Purchased by E.O. Moriarty for £5.5. Reference: Account of Pictures. This could refer to a smaller variant of the Mitchell's Bridge work in oil described above.
2. Lansdowne Bridge
* Conrad Martens, Lansdowne Bridge, April 2, [18]36, pencil on paper, 20 x 29.8 cm, State Library of New South Wales. Note the two piers at either end of the wide viaduct, similar to the piers seen on the side face of Mitchell's bridge in the 'Skinner Prout' and Conrad Martens views. This pencil sketch is the template for the later watercolour.
* Conrad Martens, Lansdowne Bridge, sepia wash on paper, n.d. DL PX27 f.35. This is an undated variant of the aforementioned pencil sketch.
* Conrad Martens, Lansdowne Bridge, 1836, watercolour on paper, National Library of Australia. This work was sold to Governor Sir Richard Bourke on 21 April 1837 for £12.12. It was precisely based on the previously described pencil sketch.
* Charles Rodius, Lansdowne Bridge, over Prospect Creek near Liverpool, 1836, lithograph. Reference: Main Roads 1970.
* Conrad Martens, Lansdowne Bridge, c.1843, pencil on paper. DL PX19 f.23. Preliminary sketch for a work in oil. This is a variant on the original April 1836 pencil sketch.
* Conrad Martens, Lansdowne Bridge [1843]. Sold to G. W. Evans, on 18 January 1844 for £12.12. Reference: Account of Pictures.
3. Berrima Bridge
* T.L. Mitchell [after], Berrima Bridge, Wingecarribee River, 1834-35. Destroyed by flood 1860. The only image of the bridge is a sketch by T.L. Mitchell in his Field Book C53, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales (Explorers Tree 2021). The image below is a copy of that sketch. The bridge appears similar in profile to the Lansdowne bridge, with a shorter viaduct. and two pier structures on each end of the bridge.
Discussion
It would appear from the above that Conrad Martens made artworks of two of the David Lennox bridges - Mitchell's Bridge at Lapstone Hill and the Lansdowne Bridge at Prospect. He does not appear to have made any images of the Berrima bridge. All these bridges are distinct - the first, and earliest, has a short, semi-circular span and minimal edge features on the top, whilst the second - the Lansdowne Bridge - has a longer, arc like span with extended features on the roadway. Unfortunately there are various names used by Martens in his records, and subsequently allocated to his artworks during auction or gallery sales. As a result we have 'Bridge, Nepean' and 'Riverstone Bridge', with the former referring to Mitchell's Bridge at Glenbrook, and the latter an erroneous naming by a cataloguing post mortem. It is therefore possible that the so-called Skinner Prout watercolour is actually one of Conrad Martens' Mitchell Bridge works from 1835, and a preliminary wash for a later work in watercolour and/or oil.
-------------------
References
Berger, Ian, Heritage Study of Masonry Bridges in New South Wales: Historical Overview, Roads and Traffic Authority, 2005, 11p.
Explorers Tree, Berrima, NSW. A bunch of bridge blocks, Explorers Tree [website], 1 June 2021.
Hubert Architects et al., Mitchell's Pass Historic Precinct Conservation Management Plan, Hubert Architects, Ian Jack Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd, Hughes Truman Pty Ltd and Douglas Partners Pty Ltd, 9 January 2008, 98p.
Lansdowne Bridge over Prospect Creek, Main Roads - Journal of the Department of Main Roads, New South Wales, September 1970, 14-21.
Martens, Conrad, Account of Pictures painted in Sydney, 1835 to 1878 [manuscript], State Library of New South Wales.
Organ, Michael, Conrad Martens Archive [webpage], 2021.
Selkirk, Henry, David Lennox: the bridge builder, and his work, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, volume VI, part 4, 1 October 1920, 200-243.
---------------------
Conrad Martens: Archive | Beagle Journal 1833-4 | Brush Scene, Illawarra 1850-1 | Campbell House 1838-9 (2) | Four bridges? | Illawarra, 1835 | Mullet Creek, Illawarra 1853 | The Picturesque |
Last updated; 21 November 2021
Michael Organ
Comments
Post a Comment