Benjamin Duterrau (2 March 1767– 11 July 1851) was an English painter,

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

, engraver, sculptor and art lecturer who emigrated to

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. There he became known for his images of Indigenous people and Australian history paintings.

Career

Duterrau was born in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and was of Anglo-French descent. The parish record of Saint Anne, Soho, gives his baptism date as 24 March 1768, father 'Benjamin Dutterreau' and mother 'Sarah'. His father was a watchmaker. Duterrau was apprenticed to an engraver and in 1790 did two coloured

stipple engraving Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving by gouging out the dots ...

after

George Morland George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...

, ''The Farmer's Door'' and ''The Squire's Door''. Taking up painting, between 1817 and 1823 he exhibited six portraits at

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

exhibitions, and he also exhibited three genre pieces at the British Institution about the same period. Duterrau emigrated to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...

(now

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

), arriving in August 1832 with his daughter. He lived at the corner of Campbell and Patrick Streets in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, and practised as a portrait painter. In 1833, at the Hobart Mechanics' Hall, he was the first man in the colony to give a lecture on art. In 1835 he did some etchings of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, the first examples of that craft to be done in Australia. His most famous painting
The Conciliation
(1840) is in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart, which was intended to be a study for his "A National Picture", a 3.04m x 4.26m epic which has been long missing. A self-portrait and other works, including some modelling in relief, also hang in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. A large landscape is in the Beattie collection at Launceston, and he is also represented in the Dixon collection at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

. Duterrau died at Hobart in 1851. His daughter Jane (1812–1885) married John Bogle (1808–1879), a colonial merchant, in Hobart, Tasmania in February 1838, before returning to Britain. Their son

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

played for the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

in the

1872 FA Cup Final The 1872 FA Cup Final was a football match between Wanderers and Royal Engineers on 16 March 1872 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the final of the first staging of the Football Association Challenge Cup (known in the modern era as the FA C ...

. Duterrau's gravestone lies in Hobart's

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1846, by the Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually. ...

, which erroneously names 'Bengamin Duterrau'. The spelling of Benjamin is the same in English and French but the sounds of the letters being spelled is different. Duterrau, though born in London, was the son of immigrant French parents whose first language would have been French and his education and language at home may well have been largely in French. This author suggests that the misspelling on his gravestone is the result of a spelling by either a French speaker to an English speaker or that Duterrau had always spelled his name to people in French alphabet where the English 'G' is pronounced 'jay' in French and 'J' as 'gee'.

Interpretation of Artworks

The significance and interpretation of Duterrau's painting has been debated. For example, although a minor artist, the

Museum of Australian Democracy Old Parliament House, formerly known as the Provisional Parliament House, was the seat of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988. The building began operation on 9 May 1927 after Parliament's relocation from Melbourne to the new capit ...

considers ''The Conciliation'' to be the first national epic painting and a foundation document for Australia. Intended to portray the end of the conflict in Van Diemen's land (Tasmania) between white settlers and First Nation people, the images are considered by Greg Lehman to be both ambivalent and ambiguous about the conciliation transaction and presages the betrayal of promises made to First Nation people by the Governor

George Augustus Robinson George Augustus Robinson (22 March 1791 – 18 October 1866) was a British-born colonial official and self-trained preacher in colonial Australia. In 1824, Robinson travelled to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, where he attempted to negotiate ...

. Lehman suggests that First Nation people's hesitancy in the painting reflects the artist's own unease about the future of Tasmanian First Nation people despite Duterrau's regard for Robinson. Duterrau made a number of studies of this scene and the final 1840 version now in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart provides a poignant insight into the future decimation of Tasmanian First Nation people. Lehman suggests this is depicted through the husband of Trucanini pointing to her shell necklace, a symbol of culture, that is being traded away.

Gallery

The squires door by DUTERRAU, BENJAMIN - GMII.jpg , The squire's door (1790) Benjamin Duterrau - Edith, Mrs George Gatehouse - Google Art Project.jpg , Edith, Mrs George Gatehouse (c. 1834) Benjamin Duterrau - Timmy, a Tasmanian Aboriginal, throwing a spear - Google Art Project.jpg , Timmy, a Tasmanian Aboriginal, throwing a spear (1838) Benjamin Duterrau - Mr Robinson's first interview with Timmy - Google Art Project.jpg , Mr Robinson's first interview with Timmy (1840) Benjamin Duterrau - Jack, a Tasmanian Aboriginal, holding a club - Google Art Project.jpg , Jack, a Tasmanian Aboriginal, holding a club (1841) Last of the Tasmanians Woodcut 7 - Manalagana.jpg , Manalagana Last of the Tasmanians Woodcut 5 - Mr Robinson on his conciliation mission.jpg , Mr Robinson on his conciliation mission

References

External links

G. Duterreau
(Dictionary of Australian artists online)

(ArtNet.com)

(1835 drawing)
Mr Robinson's first interview with Timmy
(1840, oil on canvas -

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

)
Native taking a kangaroo
(1837, oil on canvas -

) * *Record for 1768 baptism of 'Benjamin Dutterreau' in Westminster, London. Batch No: CO62369
(International Genealogical Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duterrau, Benjamin 19th-century English painters English male painters English engravers English etchers English emigrants to colonial Australia 1767 births 1851 deaths Painters from London 19th-century Australian painters 19th-century English male artists