Lot 34: HENRY BURN (1807?-1884)

The Refugee from the Wreck, Coast of Brighton signed and dated 'H Burn/1870' (lower left); titled and inscribed 'N2 - The refugee from the Wreck/Coast of Brighton/Henry Burn' (on the reverse) watercolour heightened with bodycolour 23.5 x 35.5 cm PROVENANCE Leonard Joel, Melbourne, Australian, New Zealand, British and European Historical and Contemporary Drawings and Paintings, Sculptures, 4 November 1981, lot 77, illus. p. 39 NOTES Born in Birmingham, as a young artist Henry Burn travelled extensively, completing many scenic views of English towns. At the age of forty-three he boarded the ship Baltimore which departed from Liverpool on 16 October 1852 and arrived in Melbourne on 30 January 1853. He later married Susan Crane, who was one of his fellow passengers aboard the Baltimore. Relatively little is known about Burn although records show that he exhibited with the Victorian Society of Fine Arts. Burn was a topographical artist whose watercolours of colonial Melbourne and its suburbs are now of significant historical interest. His works reveal an interest in light effects and, as is evident in The Refugee from the Wreck, display a subtlety and softness of handling as well as superior draughtsmanship. Writing on Burn's work, Patricia Reynolds commented: "Nine of his Melbourne paintings are held in the La Trobe Library and like his earlier lithographed views, they too provide a valuable visual record of much that has long since disappeared. While they reveal interesting historical detail, they also reveal more clearly Burn's considerable abilities as an artist and his interest in capturing the changing effects of light and atmosphere, shown particularly in works such as... Brighton Beach (1862) a watercolour which illustrates the increasing popularity of Brighton once the railway, opened in 1859, was able to bring day-trippers so uniquely close to the beach." (P Reynolds, "A Note on Henry Burn 1807? - 1884", La Trobe Library Journal, vol.3, no.11, April 1973, p.52) The watercolour mentioned above, Brighton Beach (1862), provides an interesting comparison with The Refugee from the Wreck, which was executed eight years later. The suburb of Brighton had only been settled in 1840 but the opening of the railway line in 1859 quickly made it a popular tourist destination. Brighton Beach depicts a lively and bustling pleasure-spot, filled with day-trippers, boats of all description, and people promenading past the newly built, elegant buildings along the foreshore. In contrast, The Refugee from the Wreck shows a lonely sweep of beach and the focus is on the drama taking place in the water and on the rescue operation. A flock of circling gulls contribute to the impression of movement and activity. Despite this obvious selectivity regarding the composition and framing of the scene, it is possible that this work depicts the actual shipwreck of the cutter Water Witch, which was built in 1851 and lost off the coast of Brighton in Port Phillip Bay in 1870.