The Upper Taieri Plains

Artist: William Mathew Hodgkins (1833—1898)
Date: 1896
Place: Dunedin
Media: watercolour on card
Dimensions: 161 × 208 mm
Catalogue number: 2023–1–33
Credit line: The Field Collection, Toi Mahara

William Mathew Hodgkins made many trips into the New Zealand countryside, often in the company of friends, and he always sketched the landscape. He sketched the Taieri region on several occasions. While his large finished paintings were usually grand empty views, his sketches were often peopled. Here a musterer accompanied by a dog and a mob of sheep and a traveller meet on the wide plain. Hodgkins has convincingly conveyed the huge scale of the landscape on this small page. (Sourced from notes by Avenal McKinnon, Frances Hodgkins, the link with Kapiti: The Field Collection, Mahara Gallery, 2000).