
Nicholas Chevalier (9 May 1828 – 15 March 1902) was a Russian-born artist who worked in Australia and New Zealand.
Early life
Chevalier was born in
St Petersburg,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
, the son of Louis Chevalier, who came from
Vaud
Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms ...
,
Switzerland, and was overseer to the estates of the
Prince de Wittgenstein in Russia. Nicholas' mother was Russian. Nicholas left Russia with his father in 1845, and studied painting and architecture in
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...
, Switzerland and at
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. The materials used in this painting are oil paints on canvas.
Career

In 1851 Chevalier moved to
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 worked as an illustrator in lithography and watercolour. He also designed a fountain which was erected in the royal grounds at Osborne, and two of his paintings were hung at the Academy in 1852. Further study in painting followed at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. In late 1854 Chevalier sailed from London to Australia on board the 'Swallow' to join his father and brother, and arrived in Melbourne on 25 December. In August 1855 he obtained work as a cartoonist on the newly established Melbourne ''
Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
''. Later he did illustrative work for the ''Illustrated Australian News'' and also worked in chromolithography. He accompanied explorer/meteorologist
Georg von Neumayer
Georg Balthazar von Neumayer (21 June 1826 – 24 May 1909), was a German polar explorer and scientist who was a proponent of the idea of international cooperation for meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (wh ...
on trips to remote areas of Victoria, and the material gathered on such journeys resulted in some of his most recognised pieces of this period, including his painting of
Mount Arapiles
Mount Arapiles is a rock formation that rises about above the Wimmera plains in western Victoria, Australia. It is located in Arapiles approximately west of the town of Natimuk and is part of the Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park. Arapiles ...
in Western Victoria.
Chevalier designed a dress for the governor's wife the botanist Lady
Anne Maria Barkly. The outfit incorporated the Southern Cross and Chevalier also designed a lyrebird-inspired fan as an accessory to the outfit. It appears that she never wore the dress as she chose to appear as a "Marquise of the Court of Louis XV" for the Mayor's Fany Dress Ball in 1863. Chevalier's dress design was rejected by Bankly but they collaborated to work on a present for the newly married Princess of Wales in the same year. The present was from the women of Victoria and like the dress the chosen silver and gold flower stand design featured icons of Australian life.
In 1864, when the
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited ar ...
was founded, an exhibition of works by Victorian artists was held. The government agreed to buy the best picture exhibited for £200. Chevalier's oil painting ''The Buffalo Ranges'' was selected, and was the first picture painted in Australia to be included in the Melbourne collection. In 1865 Chevalier visited
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
, travelling widely and doing much work there which was exhibited at Melbourne on his return. In 1869 he joined as an artist with the
Duke of Edinburgh, on the voyage to the East and back to London with stops in Tahiti, Hawaii, Japan, China, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India. The pictures painted during the voyage were exhibited at South Kensington.
In January 1874 Chevalier was commissioned by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
to travel to St Petersburg and paint a picture of the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh. Chevalier made London his base and was a continual exhibitor at the Academy from 1871 to 1887. He had one picture in the 1895 Academy but had practically given up painting by then. Chevalier died in London on 15 March 1902.
Legacy

Chevalier married
Caroline Wilkie in 1855, a relative of Sir
David Wilkie, who survived him. Chevalier was a man of much personal charm and spoke fluent French, English, Russian, German, Italian and Portuguese. He was a good amateur musician being second violinist in the Royal Amateur Orchestral Society which had been started by officers in the ''Galatea'' and in which the duke was first violin.
The
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...
, the
Dunedin Public Art Gallery (New Zealand), the
Honolulu Museum of Art
The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...
, the
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited ar ...
, the
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery,
Art Gallery of New South Wales and the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
(Canberra) are among the public collections holding works by Nicholas Chevalier.
In 2011 Nicholas Chevalier was the subject of a major survey exhibition and publication, 'Australian Odyssey', mounted by the
Gippsland Art Gallery, and subsequently toured to the
Geelong Gallery
The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional gallery in the city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collection. The Gallery forms Geelong's Cultural Precinct with ...
, Victoria.
References
*
Melvin Day, ''Nicholas Chevalier - Artist - His Life and Work with Special Reference to His Career in New Zealand and Australia''. Wellington, New Zealand: Millwood Press, 1981.
*Marjorie J. Tipping,
Chevalier, Nicholas (1828 - 1902), ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 3,
MUP, 1969, pp 387–388.
* Forbes, David W., ''Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941'',
Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 92 & 162-163.
*
*Neil Roberts, ''Nicholas Chevalier: an artist’s journey through Canterbury in 1866''. Christchurch, New Zealand: Robert McDougall Art Gallery, 1992.
*Simon Gregg, ''Nicholas Chevalier: Australian Odyssey''. Sale, Australia: Gippsland Art Gallery, 2011.
*Andrew Sayers, ''Australian Art''. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press, 2001.
External links
* from the ''
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
The ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'' (DNZB) is an encyclopedia or biographical dictionary containing biographies of over 3,000 deceased New Zealanders. It was first published as a series of print volumes from 1990 to 2000, went online ...
''
Artworks in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaArtworks in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Nicholas
1828 births
1902 deaths
New Zealand artists
Artists from London
19th-century Australian painters
19th-century Australian male artists
Australian landscape painters
Australian male painters