Bugger-Bugger (a Native of New Holland), and a true representation of our Sydney Blacks

Details

Richard Read the Elder (c.1765-after 1827)
Bugger-Bugger (a Native of New Holland), and a true representation of our Sydney Blacks
signed, inscribed and dated 'Sketched by Read the/Elder 1824 - taken from Life/true measurement 5-1/Bugger Bugger (a Native of New/Holond) and a true Representation of our Sydney Blacks./There is just the same disparity in point of bulk and hight/in these...drawings both being copied by partil measurement' (sic)
pencil and watercolour on paper laid down on stretched linen, watermark 'TURKEY MILL/WHATMAN', unframed
15 x 10 5/8in. (38.2 x 26.9cm.)

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Lot Essay

Read was sentenced to fourteen years for knowingly possessing forged notes in 1812 and transported to Australia on the Earl Spencer, arriving in Sydney in 1813. He was soon granted a ticket of leave and was advertising as an artist from 1814. Known primarily as a portrait painter in the colony, he produced the earliest European portraits in New South Wales, sitters including Governor Macquarie and his wife. He was granted a conditional pardon in 1819. In 1821 he announced in the Sydney Gazette that he had moved to 6 Hunter Street where he offered 'some very superior Views of various Parts of New Holland, together with Drawings of Birds, Flowers, Native Figures, &c.'

He was granted absolute pardon in 1826 and is not recorded in the colony from 1828.

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