Portrait of a lady, February 1837, painted by Edmund Edgar

MIN 603

fonds

February 1837

Graphic Materials, Paintings

9675967

1 painting - on ivory - visible image 6 x 5 cm, in frame 11 x 10 cm

Edmund Edgar’ worked in London as a miniature painter and engraver before being convicted of robbery and sentenced to transportation for life in 1825. He used several aliases, being known as Edmund Bults, Edmund Eager and Edward Edgar. At his committal hearing witnesses testified that his real surname was Bult. He signed his Australian works as Edmund Edgar. He arrived in Sydney in September 1826 on the Marquis of Huntley and was assigned to Augustus Earle who had recently acquired a lithographic press and sought Edgar’s assistance in the production of his Views in Australia and other lithographs. Before Earle left the colony the following year, he asked that Edgar be re-assigned to his associate, Andrew Allen. Edmund also worked for engraver and copperplate printer John Carmichael and taught drawing and perspective to the sons of civil and military officers, although this was interrupted in October 1828 with the punishment of three months in an iron gang for being found ‘drunk & in a disorderly house at a late hour of night’. In May 1830 he was transferred to work as a clerk for Crown Solicitor William Henry Moore, remaining in Moore’s service until 1843. During this time he found time to take on private portrait commissions, signing his pictures Edmund Edgar.

References:
Australian Prints + Printmaking. "Edmund Edgar". Accessed 7 June 2024. https://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/artists/12054/
Martin, Megan. "A Talented convict artist". MHNSW. Accessed 7 June 2024. https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/talented-convict-artist/
Stevens, R. "‘Edmund Edgar alias Bult’". Australiana 40, no. 3 (August 2018)
Design and Art Australia online. "Edmund Edgar". Accessed 7 June 2024. https://www.daao.org.au/bio/edmundedgar/biography/

A portrait miniature of an unidentified woman, her hair tied in a bun with ringlets and wearing black dress with lace trimmed collar, possibly in mourning.

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Title devised by cataloguer based on inscription on verso

Inscribed 'Painted by Edmund Edgar, Sydney, NSW, February 1837' on verso