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Lot Essay
Owen Stanley was an avid sketcher whose lifelong passion for the sea
led him to travel extensively throughout Australia as a naval officer. The eldest son of the rector of Alderley, later Bishop of Norwich he was sent to Charterhouse to study the classics with the aim of entering the legal profession. However, in 1826 he enrolled in the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth and trained as a professional seaman rising to captain in 1844.
Artistic skill was well regarded in the navy and most ships included either trained or self taught arists to document and chart the topography, settlements, navitives, animals or marine life of the New World. In the six years he was commander he was commander of the Britomart, Stanley produced an extensive 154 page album documenting daily life aboard the ship as well as recording the often unfamiliar coastline and settlements.
in 1847-50 as Captain of the Rattlesnake, Stanley surveyed the eastern and north-eastern
coast of Australia. It is probable that Leaving Sydney Harbour for Bass Strait was one of the numerous sketches he made on the voyage.
led him to travel extensively throughout Australia as a naval officer. The eldest son of the rector of Alderley, later Bishop of Norwich he was sent to Charterhouse to study the classics with the aim of entering the legal profession. However, in 1826 he enrolled in the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth and trained as a professional seaman rising to captain in 1844.
Artistic skill was well regarded in the navy and most ships included either trained or self taught arists to document and chart the topography, settlements, navitives, animals or marine life of the New World. In the six years he was commander he was commander of the Britomart, Stanley produced an extensive 154 page album documenting daily life aboard the ship as well as recording the often unfamiliar coastline and settlements.
in 1847-50 as Captain of the Rattlesnake, Stanley surveyed the eastern and north-eastern
coast of Australia. It is probable that Leaving Sydney Harbour for Bass Strait was one of the numerous sketches he made on the voyage.