Australian Shepherd’s Hut engraving by Godfrey after Skinner Prout. c1874

$100.00

Wonderfully graphic dirt-floored home of early settlers in Australia. The sunlight through the door shows the interior of the home with the family and their dog at a table in front of a grand fireplace, an indigenous Australian aborigine sitting on the floor beside a kangaroo he has obviously killed for food, chickens outside the door, and lots of other interesting details of the way they lived. On the wall is a full page from The Illustrated London News announcing the vist of Queen Victoria and Albert.

An original steel engraving by John Godfrey from a drawing by John Skinner Prout (1806-1876) for Australia Illustrated by Edwin Carton Booth, published in England by Virtue & Co. circa 1874 (with later hand-colour that enhances the definition within the darkness of indoors).

Skinner Prout was born on 19 December 1805 at Plymouth in England. On 14 December 1840 he arrived in Sydney with his wife and seven children. He brought a complete lithographic printing press with him, and in early 1841 he started producing lithographed versions of his drawings of Sydney. In January 1844 Prout moved to Hobart and commenced drawing Hobart and its environs for a series of lithographs. Skinner Prout went on many sketching trips throughout New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria, often accompanying sketching clubs that he helped to organize. Prout and his family returned to England in April 1848.

This engraving is in good condition, with wide margins as published. Image size is 123 x 175mm (4 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches). Page size is 215 x 270cm (8 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches). The picture centres on the image for greatest detail.