Convict artists in the time of Governor Macquarie

Thousands of convicts arrived in Australia from 1788 until the mid nineteenth century. Many brought with them skills and talents which were used to enrich the life and economy of the new colony.

Artists and designers were among the convicted – unsurprisingly, several skilled artists were transported for forgery. Some convicts were required to use their artistic skills as assigned servants. Others, like John Eyre, could not practise their art until they had received pardons from their sentences. Perhaps the best known is Joseph Lycett for his views of Sydney.

They all used their art to record and interpret the landscape and people of the fledgling colony. Their artistic documents contribute enormously to our understanding of early nineteenth century New South Wales.

These convict artists arrived in Sydney during Governor Macquarie's rule (1810 - 1822).

Joseph Lycett

Joseph Lycett was born in Staffordshire in around 1774 and worked as a professional portrait and miniature painter.  Like fellow convict Francis Greenway, Lycett was convicted of forgery and transported to Australia for a term of fourteen years.

In 1815, a year after he arrived in Sydney, he was again convicted of forging bank notes. As punishment, Lycett was sent to the secondary penal colony of Newcastle where he began work as a legitimate artist and designer. In Newcastle, Lycett attracted the patronage of the commandant, Major James Wallis, who had also commanded the General Hewitt – the ship on which Lycett was transported. Under Wallis, Lycett was involved in designing Christ Church, Newcastle, and painting its altar piece. Wallis’ influence earned Lycett a conditional pardon, and he carved out a successful career, primarily as a landscape painter.

Samples of Lycett’s work were acquired by Governor Macquarie and sent to Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in England. Views in Australia, a publication of engraved landscapes based on Lycett’s work, was published in London between 1824 and 1825. It is thought that Lycett may be responsible for some of the painted panels on two wooden collector’s chests in the State Library’s collection. One of these is believed to have belonged to the Macquarie family. Certainly some of the panels are based on engraved views in Wallis’ 1821 publication, An historical account of the Colony of New South Wales. Wallis himself claimed to be artist of many of the original works on which the engravings are based, but some bear striking resemblance to Lycett’s work and are now credited to him. The engravings were the work of convict Walter Preston.

Joseph Lycett left the colony for England in 1822. What happened to him when he returned to England is unconfirmed, however a handwritten note in one of the Mitchell Library copies of Views in Australia claims that he was arrested again for forgery. He then allegedy tried to commit suicide by slashing his throat and later died when he reopened the wound in hospital. This is likely to have occurred sometime between 1825 and 1828.

Richard Read Senior
(c 1765 - 1829)

Richard Read Senior was born in London. Not much is known of his life until 1812 when he was sentenced to 14 years’ transportation. He arrived in Sydney in October 1813 and was granted a ticket-of-leave, (ie. he was released on parole), eight weeks later.

In 1814 Read opened one of Australia’s first drawing schools. As well as offering lessons, he undertook commissioned artworks, specialising in portraits and miniatures. He also sold paintings, drawings and embroidery designs. Read’s skill as a portrait painter earned him the patronage of many of the colony’s notable citizens, including Governor and Mrs Macquarie.

Read continued his artistic career until the late 1820s. He may have left the colony at the end of his sentence. There is no record of his death, but it probably occurred in about 1829.

Confusingly, another Richard Read came free to Sydney in 1819 and also worked as a portrait painter. Calling himself Read Junior, this man may have been the older Read’s estranged son.

John Eyre
(1771 - unknown)

Eyre was born in Coventry, England. In 1799 he was sentenced to seven years’ transportation for housebreaking and arrived in Sydney in 1801. After three years in the colony, he received a conditional pardon and began work as an artist soon afterwards. Eyre created naval charts for Governor Bligh and was also employed in more mundane artistic tasks, including painting numbers on the sides of buildings and painting offices.

Eyre is probably best remembered for his drawings and watercolours of topographical views around Sydney. Many of these were used in publications such as Absalom West’s Views in New South Wales and David Mann's The Present Picture of New South Wales (London, 1811). John Eyre left Sydney in 1812 for Europe. It is not known where or when he died.

Richard Browne
(1771-1824)

Browne was born in Dublin, sentenced to transportation in 1810 and arrived in Sydney in 1811 on the Providence. Within a few months of arriving, he reoffended and was removed to the secondary penal colony of Newcastle. In Newcastle, Browne came into contact with Lieutenant Thomas Skottowe, the commandant of Newcastle from 1811-1814. Skottowe was interested in natural history and  commissioned Browne to create drawings of his collections to illustrate a manuscript entitled, Select Specimens From Nature of the / Birds Animals &c &c of New South Wales, Collected and Arranged by Thomas Skottowe Esqr. The Drawings By T.R. Browne. N.S.W. Newcastle New South Wales 1813. Browne’s illustrations of insects are particularly fine.

Until 1817, many of Browne’s works are signed with an extra initial, usually J, I or T. Like Joseph Lycett, Browne contributed many of the original watercolours for Major James Wallis' An historical account of the Colony of New South Wales which were engraved by Philip Slaeger (Sligo) and Walter Preston.

After 1817, when he gained his freedom, Browne returned to Sydney. His illustrations from this period concentrate on the Indigenous peoples of the Sydney area. Several of these are included in Collection of portraits, predominantly of Aborigines of New South Wales and Tasmania, ca. 1817-1849. He died in Sydney.

Walter Preston (c 1777-?)  and Philip Slaeger

Preston was convicted of highway robbery in London. His death sentence was commuted to fourteen years’ transportation and he was assigned to printer Absalom West upon arrival in Sydney in 1812. Like Joseph Lycett, Preston was sent to the penal colony of Newcastle for a crime committed in Sydney and came under the influence of Major James Wallis. In 1819, Preston engraved the plates for Wallis' An historical account of the Colony of New South Wales. He received an absolute pardon in the same year.

Philip Slaeger (aka Sligo) was sentenced to seven years transportation at Maidstone in Kent. He arrived in Sydney in 1807 and worked as an assigned servant until the end of his sentence in 1812. His first work as an engraver also appeared in 1812 – two views of Sydney from Bennelong Point, engraved onto copper plate after paintings by John Eyre.

In Sydney, both Preston and Slaeger were employed by Absalom West to engrave the copper plates for West’s Views in New South Wales which featured large prints of views engraved from originals by John Eyre. West’s views were issued in Sydney in 1813 and cost three pounds.