An introduction to

John William Lewinpainter & naturalist

John William LewinThe Night Hawk, 1807

Lewin (1770-1819)

• 1st free professional artist in

the colony

• Arrived in Sydney in 1800

(from England)

• 1st to print an illustrated book

in Australia (Birds of New

South Wales 1813)Detail of A view of part of Port Jackson from Dawes's Point Sydney Cove c.1809 George William Evans

Banksia beauty - Bombyx banksiae, 1803 [Common name: banksia moth]

Echidna, 1807

Blue Face Honeysucker 1813 [Common name: blue face honeyeater]

Brush turkey, 1809

Hibiscus, 1802 Crinum peduculatum, 1808 [Swamp Lily]

A view of the River Hawkesbury, N.S.Wales, c.1810

Yango Mungo Y’eyango, 1815

‘Mr Lewin goes into the woods here, he collects Birds & Insects,

he breeds them to come at their real History, he paints them,

Engraves them, Prints them,

Colours the prints wth Mrs Lewin,

and [gives] their history…’

(Lewin’s friend, John Grant 1815)

Over the mountainsLewin went on various expeditions to make art including the Hunter region (1801) and Tahiti (1801-2).

He also travelled over the Blue Mountains with Governor Macquarie in 1815, to document new land for farming.

I.deah, 1802 On reverse `Mother of the present wife of the late King of Otaheite'

Emu Ford, 1815

Lewin’s significance• Recorded what he saw in

accurate detail

• Included environmental context

• Used strong diagonals and more artistic compositions compared to other traditional naturalist work.

The ground parrot of New South Wales, c.1809

A Comparison

Platypus Anatinus, 1799 George Shaw

Platypus, 1810 JW Lewin

‘Lewin’s powerful formula of careful observation

and dynamic composition – which evolved during his life

in New South Wales – was his singular achievement.’

(Colonial Art Historian Richard Neville, 2012)