Lot Essay
A preparatory sketch for one of the eight lithographs in Bowler's rare African Sketch Book [1855] 'Mouille Point Lighthouse, and the Wreck of the Australian'. 'The Australian went aground near the lighthouse on 30 March 1854, but was refloated and sailed for England on 14 May, with Bowler as a passsenger. The presumption is, therefore, that he made the drawings on the stone [for the African Sketch Book] while studying in London under Harding' (F.R. Bradlow, op. cit., p. 273).