Thomas Bock arrived in Hobart in January 1824 having been sentenced to transportation for fourteen years. It is thought that Bock's reputation as an engraver and draughtsman preceded him to Hobart, which would explain why the colony's authorities put him to almost immediate use. Among his earliest Tasmanian works are bank notes engraved for the Bank of Van Diemen's Land and a drawing of the executed criminal, Alexander Pearce, made at the request of the Colonial Surgeon. During the 1820s he also engraved stationery, visiting cards, invitations and illustrations for publications such as the Hobart Town Almanack. After gaining a pardon in 1833 he became the most sought-after portraitist in the colony, producing numerous portrait drawings for respectable colonists throughout the 1830s and 1840s. This work is believed to be a portrait of free settler Jessie Whyte (née Walker, 1779–1864), whose son-in-law, businessman and landowner William Robertson, was one of Bock's patrons. Bock also produced oil paintings, and was one of the first practitioners of photography in Tasmania.
Purchased 2017
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Joanna Gilmour delves into a collection display that celebrates the immediacy and potency of drawing as an art form in its own right.
Whether the result of misadventure or misdemeanour, many accomplished artists were transported to Australia where they ultimately left a positive mark on the history of art in this country.
