Nelson Illingworth trained in sculpture in England and worked as a modeller at the Royal Doulton potteries for nine years before moving to Australia. In the 1890s he set up the Denbrae Fine Art Pottery at Forest Lodge to make a range of flowerpots, fernpots and statuettes. He also made many heads, busts and statuettes, including a bust and a life-or-death mask of Henry Lawson, a fine bust of Cardinal Moran and a life-sized statue of Henry Parkes. Illingworth was one of the sculptors who worked on the striking façade of the Lands Department Building in Bridge Street, Sydney. He was preparing a design for the Henry Lawson memorial monument when he died.
The Sydney Sunday Times reported in August 1895 ‘Mr Nelson Illingworth has executed a medallion portrait of the Premier. Friends of Mr Reid are using it to adorn their homes, and opponents as a target for pistol practice.’
This is the National Portrait Gallery’s only representation of Reid apart from two examples of the cast iron paperweight, acquired in 2001 and 2006.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016
Nelson Illingworth (age 33 in 1895)
Sir George Houston Reid GCB GCMG KC (age 50 in 1895)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.
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