• Title
  Trompe l'oeil of a surveyor's desktop / watercolour by William Henry Wells
• Creator
  William Henry Wells, 1817?-1860
• Call number
  ML 1211
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  ca. 1842
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  403190
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  1 drawing - watercolour and ink on card - 42 x 61 cm sight
  
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  This trompe l'oeil depicts a desktop covered with items which refer to Wells and his profession as a surveyor. He depicts his drawing tools: a folding wooden rule, scissors, scalpel knife and dividers. Dominating the composition are maps and subdivision plans: Sir Thomas Mitchell's 1834 Map of the Colony of New South Wales, a subdivision for the town of Woodstock (a town near Kiama), a map of land grants on the North Shore, and his own map of the County of Cumberland.
  The drawing also includes flowers, a butterfly, a piece of sheet music, an unidentified family crest, and Well's own unofficial version of the Australian coat-of-arms (which appears on some of his printed works).
  Some biographical details about Wells are at PXn 931
  The vendor of this work was a William Henry Wells descendant.
  Digital order no:Album ID : 1024099
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  The work is unsigned, but the artist has included in the design a letter, dated 1842, addressed to himself. He has also included his calling card "W.H. Wells / Land Surveyor / Sydney."
• Topic
  coats of arms
  colonial art
  drawing instruments
  maps
  trompe-l'oeil
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection - State Library of New South Wales (July-September 2009)

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