John William Lewin (1770-1819)

The son of the English ornithologist William Lewin, John William Lewin was the first free artist to visit the colony of New South Wales, arriving in January 1800. He joined two expeditions as unofficial natural history artist, to the Hunter River in 1801 and to Tahiti later the same year. He settled with his wife at Parramatta from 1802 to 1808, befriending the new governor, William Bligh, whose land grants from Governor King included 500 acres near Parramatta. Lewin produced numerous watercolours for Bligh. The present two studies (lots 476 and 477) can be added to the several Lewin landscapes and natural history subjects which descended in Bligh's family until recent years, a selection of which are now in the collections of the Art Gallery and State Library of New South Wales.