Studio portraits by Thomas J. NEVIN 1860s-1870s, Hobart Tasmania
John McPhee at QVMAG, Friday 24 March 2023
Photo © QVMAG Arts Foundation 2023
John McPhee: a few key dates
Noted curator and director:
1974-1978: Curator of Art at the QVMAG at Royal Park, Launceston, Tasmania
1980-1992: Founding Curator of Australian decorative arts and Senior Curator of Australian art at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
1992-1996: Deputy Director at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Noted author and editor:
1980: The Art of John Glover (South Melbourne, Vic. : Macmillan)
2007: The painted portrait photograph in Tasmania 1850-1900 (Launceston, Tas. : Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery)
2008: Joseph Lycett: Convict Artist (ed. Sydney : Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales)
1977: curator of T. J. Nevin's mugshots at the QVMAG exhibition
Several hundred photographs of Tasmanian prisoners (termed "convicts" in tourism discourse) taken by government contractor Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol in the 1870s were salvaged in the early 1900s by John Watt Beattie from deteriorating official prison and police records. Beattie's government commission as both landscape photographer and collector of Aboriginal relics and convict realia was the commercial promotion of Tasmania's unique scenery and penal heritage at intercolonial exhibitions where such items were offered for sale despite their provenance as government property.
Considered by Beattie as fine examples of studio portraiture by professional photographer T. J. Nevin despite their original purpose as mugshots taken for police in the 1870s, he displayed them in albums and on wall charts at his "Port Arthur Museum" located at 51 Murray St. Hobart in the 1900s. Beattie's catalogue of 1916 offered 40 uncut prisoner cdv's for sale pasted in three panels. Dozens more mugshots and prison records including his own reproductions were displayed in travelling exhibitions associated with the fake convict ship Success during the 1900s-1920s. On Beattie's death in 1930, the 300 or so prisoner cdv's in his collection were acquired by the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG), Launceston.
Those extant or remaining cdv's from Beattie's collection were exhibited in the 1970s at the Art Gallery of NSW (1976) and at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (1977), curated by John McPhee. His interest in Thomas J. Nevin as a jobbing photographer of the 1860s-1870s extended to collecting other examples of Nevin's work wherever and whenever they were on offer.
Convict photos at Launceston
Hobart Mercury March 10th, 1977
TRANSCRIPT
Convict photos at Launceston
HISTORIC photographs showing convicts at Port Arthur in 1874 will be exhibited at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Launceston from tomorrow to May 2.
The work of T. J. Nevin, the photos are being shown at Launceston for the first time.
Many of the men shown in the picture had been transported to Port Arthur as young boys 40 years earlier.
The curator of fine art at the museum, Mr John McPhee, said yesterday that the photos has "a quality far beyond that of records."
"Just once rascally, occasionally noble, always pathetic, these photographs are among the most moving and powerful images of the human condition," he said.
Read more about the 1970s exhibitions here:
- Convict photographs by T. J. Nevin at the Art Gallery NSW Centenary Exhibition 1976
- The QVMAG convict photos exhibition 1977
- Rogues Gallery: the QVMAG prisoner photographs collection
- Prisoner James MARTIN: criminal career 1860s-1890s
As an example: this cdv of prisoner James Martin taken by T. J. Nevin in October 1874 at the Hobart Gaol was among more than fifty formerly housed at the QVMAG in Beattie's collection, Launceston, until it was removed and displayed at an exhibition at the Port Arthur Heritage site for the Port Arthur Conservation and Development Project (PACDP) in 1983. It was numbered on the front under the image "183" for relocation, and returned not to Beattie's collection at the QVMAG but to the TMAG in Hobart where it is currently held.
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Prisoner James MARTIN
Photographed on 24th October 1874 at the H.M. Goal, Hobart
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
Numbered "183" on recto in 1983
Numbered "224" on verso in 1915
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: TMAG Ref: Q15614
2003: cdv by T. Nevin gifted by John McPhee to the NGV
In 2003 John McPhee donated this cdv of an unidentified woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. It is currently displayed online at the NGV in cropped format. Responding to our request in 2016 to see the full cdv mount recto and the inscriptions verso, the NGV provided both (below), which we have since included in several posts.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow), carte-de-visite
(1865-1867)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/13260/
Accession Number 2003.395
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through the NGV Foundation by John McPhee, Member, 2003
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Professor AGL Shaw AO Bequest
Gallery location Not on display
Note the number "314", pencilled on upper right on this cdv's verso, was not mentioned in the catalogue notes when the NGV accessioned it in 2003, whereas the numbers 313, 315, 317, 318 pencilled on the versos of five from the same set of those accessioned in 2020 are duly noted (see below).
National Gallery of Victoria Catalogue Notes
No title (woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow), carte-de-visite
(1865-1867)
T. NEVIN, Hobart
Medium albumen silver photograph, watercolour
Measurements 9.5 × 5.8 cm (image and support)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription printed in ink on support on reverse c. AD ALTIORA / CITY PHOTOGRAPHIC ESTABLISHMENT / T. NEVIN. / LATE / A. BOCK. / 140 ELIZABETH ST / HOBART TOWN. / Further copies / can be obtained at / any time.
Accession Number 2003.395
Department Australian Photography Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through the NGV Foundation by John McPhee, Member, 2003
This cdv of a woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow by T. Nevin was published in the accompanying catalogue to the exhibition Who Are You: Australian Portraiture held at the NGV in 2022.
Who Are You: Australian Portraiture, pps 164-165
A selection of photographs by contributor Wesley Enoch.
Caption:
(left to right) T. Nevin, Hobart No Title (woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow), carte-de-visite 1865-67 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
John Bishop-Osborne No title (Child standing on a chair and holding a whip), carte-de-visite 1879-83 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Burman & Co., Melbourne No title (Man) , carte-de-visite 1876-77 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
James E. Bray Madame Sibly, Phrenologists and mesmerist ca. 1870 National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
2020: ten T. Nevin cdv's gifted by John McPhee to the NGV
In 2020 John McPhee donated another ten studio portraits by Thomas J. Nevin from his collection through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program. Those ten, only recently "discovered" online at the NGV by this weblog, now include them here, but since none of these ten cdv's bears distinctive descriptive titles -i.e. the NGV has catalogued each with "NO TITLE" and the barest of bare information in parentheses, e.g. No title (Boy) etc, - we have devised a title for each which indexes something in the image to identify it beyond the gender of the sitter.
Although these ten cdv's which the NGV acquired in 2020 now appear online arranged in a sequence according to their accession numbers - e.g. 2020.365 to 2020.373 - we have rearranged them here to form three groups: Group A and Group B are full-length portraits which differ in terms of one key studio furnishing - the carpet. Group C are upper-body cdv portraits printed in an oval mount.
Group A features the thick carpet with squares bordered in white with a central motif;
Group B features the thin floor-covering (tapis) with a lozenge and chain link pattern; and
Group C features full-frontal portraits of the sitter's upper body, hands not visible
The advantage in this arrangement is two-fold: it helps to establish approximately the year of the sitters' studio visit based on Nevin's technical expertise and resources ; and secondly, it could assist in seeing relationships between sitters, possibly family members, photographed separately but possibly in the same session on the same day. Portraits in Group A were taken in the late 1860s about the time Nevin photographed his fiancée Elizabeth Rachel Day and younger brother Jack (William John) Nevin, while those in Group B were more likely taken in the early 1870s.
PLEASE OBSERVE COPYRIGHT
These photographic images and accompanying catalogue notes were sourced verbatim on 20 March 2025 from the NGV online at - https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/13260/ - and posted here to this weblog without modification. We extend our appreciation to John McPhee for his generosity.
A note on the versos
Copies of the versos are (hopefully) forthcoming. In the interim, we drew these conclusions from the NGV online catalogue notes since no mention is made of a studio stamp on the "reverse" of each portrait. We can only assume at this stage that the stamp on the verso of the cdv above of the woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow which carries Nevin's most common commercial stamp and the single initial "T" for Thomas or Thos - as in "T. NEVIN" - is the same stamp on the versos of all the portraits listed here with "T. NEVIN" by the NGV, and not "T. J. Nevin" which was used exclusively for his government contractor stamp printed verso on prisoners' mugshots, portraits of government officials, and government contractors' property such as Samuel Page's Royal Mail coach.
The one set of NGV catalogue notes in this collection of ten cdv's which does mention Nevin's studio mark is for No. 9 (see below), the upper body portrait, printed in an oval buff mount, of a senior beardless gentleman. The pencilled secondary inscription and reference to the partial "chock" on the front of this cvd, when transcribed, reads:
"l.r.: NEVI(…illeg) / HO(…illeg) //" fully transcribed is "lower right, T. NEVIN PHOTO" to indicate the mark's position on the mount.
Nevin used the same blindstamp - "T. NEVIN PHOTO" on the mount of several stereographs such as this one titled "A farmer and friend surveying his sown crop" (TMAG Collection Ref: Q1994.56.2) and four taken on the "Colonists' Trip to Adventure Bay" on the 31 January 1872 (TMAG and private collections).
The following five cdv's carry verso the same secondary pencilled inscription of a letter and number combination suggesting a collector's or archivist's sequence with the same provenance, from a family album perhaps, or from a sale list at a collectables fair etc.. Note that the number "314" is written in pencil upper right on the verso of the cdv above of the woman wearing a bonnet with pink ribbons, and that her cdv by Nevin would fit into this sequence between 313 and 315, a clear indication that they were sourced as a set and were numbered accordingly, by a private collector or the public institution on acquisition. The one cdv missing in this sequence is "upper right 316" - not Nevin's perhaps, or not extant.
- "u.r.: 313" = upper right, 313 on the verso of 2. A solemn couple in their thirties.
- "u.r.: 315" = upper right 315 on the verso of 3. Professional couple, well-dressed and relaxed
- "u.r.: 317" = upper right 317 on the verso of 5. Headstand holding adolescent girl in pink scarf
- "u.l.: 1" = upper left 1 on the verso of 7. Man with bushy side whiskers, gold fob chain and dining chair
- "u.r.: 318" = upper right 318 on the verso of 8. Two young women standing together in white dresses and identical hairstyles.
No secondary inscriptions are noted verso for the following:
- 1. Young boy in suit holding hat, right arm resting on a table next to a basket of flowers.
- 4. Three women, two in black, one on the slipper chair with a landscape album
- 6. Heavily hand-coloured cdv of woman standing next to Nevin's tabletop stereo viewer
- 10. Upper body portrait, oval mount, woman with amazing eyes
New terminology:
These NGV catalogue notes use the word "support" instead of "front" or "mount", and "support reverse" instead of "back" or "verso". The phrase "coloured dyes" refers to any colour added by hand. The word "chock" refers to Nevin's blindstamp "T. NEVIN PHOTO" on No. 9, at lower right on the mount of the upper body portrait of an elderly beardless man.
Group A: the thick carpet with large squares bordered in white
Studio decor items in addition to the thick carpet with large squares bordered in white with floral centre motif; - a small single stem occasional table with tripod base; a basket of flowers, hand-coloured; the drape to right of frame, heavily coloured; books; Nevin's hand-held stereoscopic viewer.
1. Young boy in suit holding hat, right arm resting on a table next to a basket of flowers.
Thomas J. Nevin photographed this immaculately turned out pre-teen boy in the late 1860s at the studio formerly operated by Alfred Bock, the "City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". On Bock's insolvency and relocation to Victoria in 1867, Nevin acquired the lease of the studio, the glasshouse, negative stock, equipment and studio furnishings. The occasion for this boy's photograph may well have been the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh in 1868, when Hobart photographers were invited to contribute images of Tasmanian children for an album to be presented to the royal visitor. It is unusual for this sort of portrait taken of a child in this setting in these years 1867-1868 not to carry the label of Nevin's firm operated at that time with partner Robert Smith as NEVIN & SMITH.
While the boy's familial name is unknown, untold care was taken to present him at Nevin's studio as a beautifully groomed, healthy child of a middle-class urban family. His bespoke three piece suit with a single button and satin tie to secure his jacket at the neck over a white shirt collar (all new and newly pressed), his highly polished shoes, and of course, his large hat with its flattened crown held tightly at the brim by his side - all these were the perfect accoutrements of a young man poised on the threshold of adulthood.
Assuming that the colouring of this cdv was performed by Nevin or one of his assistants and not subsequently by the purchaser's family, the colourist may have been his fiancée and future wife Elizabeth Rachel Day who was already present in his life around the same time as this boy's visit to the studio. The light colours applied to the boy's cheeks and darker colours applied to the flowers appear on her own portraits and on portraits of children photographed by Nevin in the late 1860s. By contrast, the magenta painted onto the drape to right of frame was applied with a heavy hand; it is arguably the most vibrant colour yet to appear in all of Nevin's full-length portraits featuring the same drape in varying shades of red.
The same single stem table with a tripod base and thick carpet with large squares outlined in white with a central floral motif both appear in the cdv (above) of the woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow (NGV accession no.2003.395). The same carpet and table appear below in the cdv of a solemn couple (No. 2); the same carpet appears as well in the cdv of a professional couple (No. 3).
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Boy), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142919/
Medium albumen silver photograph, coloured dyes
Measurements 9.4 × 5.9 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Accession Number 2020.374
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
2. A solemn couple in their thirties.
The heavily bearded man standing to the seated woman's left appeared hatless, his hair barely combed down, when he stepped into Thomas Nevin's set-up for the photograph. The man had buttoned his comfortable jacket at the neck and worn a vest underneath without a shirt collar. His occupation might have been anything from teaching school to cooking, nothing too hard on his hands. Whatever was bulging in his jacket pocket was probably a tool of trade, even a set of eye glasses.
The woman, perhaps only recently married, wore the plainest of outfits, with minimal decoration on her dark blouson apart from the wide white cuffs and spotted necktie. She had parted her hair at the centre, tied it backwards but kept her ears covered and held it all in place with ribbons. These two made a solemn pair as they faced the photographer; their serious expressions either occasioned by the very act of posing for their photograph or some other event in their lives. Smiling was generally not encouraged in this era, but some sitters did appear to smile naturally. Again, in this photograph, as was his custom given the camera technology he was using, Nevin's focus was sharpest at the middle of the frame, in this case on the woman's face which appears sharper than the man's face higher in the frame with his pale eyes, or the blurred carpet at lower frame.
Two books in this setting imply literacy, even religiosity. Posed sitting while facing the photographer, the woman pointed the index finger of her right hand to a passage in a book held open on her lap, which could have been the Bible. Or was the pose of the sitter resting a hand on an open book one of Nevin's strategies to keep his sitter still with something to hold while waiting for the image's exposure? The young girl with pink scarf in the cdv below (No. 5) also points an index finger to a place on a page in an open book, likewise the woman seated on Nevin's slipper chair who points to a photo in the album on her lap (No. 4, cdv of three women). Much as actors striking a pose in a tableau, these sitters were given the props of an educated class and asked to perform accordingly, whether literate in fact or not.
Another book sits unopened on the same table next to Thomas Nevin's hand-held stereoscopic viewer. It is the same viewer he held wearing white gloves when he was photographed sitting next to the same table ca. late 1860s but it was not the same carpet then. The carpet here was the carpet in his studio when he photographed his fiancée Elizabeth Rachel Day, and in another sitting, when he photographed his younger brother Jack (later Constable John) Nevin leaning on a plinth ca. 1868 while operating as the firm Nevin & Smith. The same single stem table with tripod base, the same thick carpet with large squares outlined in white with a central motif, and the drape - these feature in the earlier portraits by Nevin taken in the late 1860s and most were not hand-coloured. A notable exception is No. 1 above, the cdv of a well-groomed boy.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Woman and man), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142910/
Medium albumen silver photograph
Measurements 9.3 × 5.9 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription secondary inscription: inscribed in pencil on support reverse u.r.: 313
Accession Number 2020.365
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
3. Professional couple, well-dressed and relaxed
Again, here Nevin has drawn sharpest focus to the middle of the frame, to the sitter, in this case as in others, onto the woman's face. But this woman's face is exceptional: she appears good-humoured, relaxed, and intellectually engaged with the photographer as few other women have appeared in this era at Nevin's studio. Her amazingly clear eyes would have suggested excellent health, even beauty to a captivated Nevin as he talked them through the sitting. Because her lips are slightly apart, teeth visible, he might have captured her conversing during the exposure.
The man had trimmed his chinstrap beard for the occasion, put on a dark suit with a light-coloured vest and shirt collar, and placed a clean handkerchief in his jacket pocket. His occupation? Possibly a professional such as a medical practitioner, his wife a nurse. Her striped dress with rolled shoulder pads appears to be gathered at the waist with a belt secured with a sterling silver nurse's buckle. The benign demeanour of this couple suggests they were educated yet unpretentious and well-regarded in their community. Both appear to be in their mid to late thirties at a guess, though signs of age and life expectancy as lived during their era cannot be judged by signs of age as lived in ours.
This is another portrait left untouched by the application of colours to the sitter's features or clothing, or by heavy-handed colouring of the carpet and drape, perhaps at the clients request.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Woman and man), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142913/
Medium albumen silver photograph
Measurements 9.2 × 5.9 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription secondary inscription: inscribed in pencil on support reverse u.r.: 315
Accession Number 2020.368
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
The couple are yet to be identified but they may be known to descendants or researchers from photos taken of them at other studios. They liked being photographed. The fact that this woman wore a different dress for her upper body portrait cdv (below - and see Group C, No. 10 below), and appears a little older than in the full-length portrait taken with her husband, might suggest she returned to Thomas Nevin's studio for a second portrait a few years later, ca. 1872, by which time Nevin's business was flourishing. His cameras and lenses were new, his studio furnishings more modern, more elaborate, his government contracts and Lodge membership settled, and his commissions with the legal fraternity ongoing. He was also married by July 1871 to his long-term fiancée Elizabeth Rachel Day, and by May 1872 he was a first time father living with his little family next door to his studio at 138-140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart.
This fine upper body capture, taken quite close at short focal range and very sharply focussed, shows this young woman's amazing eyes even brighter, the shape of her ears even clearer, her facial bone structure more pronounced, and her smile more knowingly wry. If her earlier portrait by Nevin taken with her husband was not quite as sharp, this portrait was perfect in its execution. So who was she?
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Woman), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart" [ see No. 10 below]
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142911/
Group B: thin floor-covering (tapis) with lozenge pattern
Studio decor items in addition to the floor-covering (tapis) with lozenge and chain link pattern, hand-coloured: - the slipper chair; the faux Georgian window; the drape; a large photo album; the photographer's head stand; the damask drape with floral points; the backsheet of a tiled Italianate balcony and balustrade overlooking a wide cart path beside a stream meandering to low mountains at the horizon; the big box tabletop revolving stereoscopic viewer; the table with the griffin-shaped legs; green colouring; orange colouring; dining chair with carved crest rail and cabriole legs.
4. Three women, two in black, one on the slipper chair with a photo album
Taken ca. 1872, the carpet in this full-length portrait of three unidentified women was carefully painted over in two tones: the lozenge pattern and chain links were picked out in brown, and the criss-cross borders lightened in orange. Visible at extreme left of frame is the edge of the fake free-standing column seen in a few other cdv's by Nevin dating from the early 1870s. It was meant to suggest a floor-to-ceiling Georgian window framed by an arched wooden jamb behind which a large backsheet was hung, painted with an Italianate balcony and distant vista of river and trees.
Were those two seated women wearing black dresses to signify they were in mourning or were their dresses just another dark colour? One sits on Nevin's shiny lady's slipper chair holding open a photo album, the other is perched on a stool beside her. The third stands behind them in a light coloured dress, leaning into the back of the chair. The woman holding the album wears a netted half glove on her left hand, her index finger pointing to a place on the page. This is the third cdv in this set of ten in which the sitter points an index finger onto a page in an open book. It must have been Nevin's preferred pose to keep his subjects still while timing the exposure.
These three women's hairstyles, much fussed over with curling irons, met current standards of fashion. The woman standing behind the chair made two large flat cowpats on either side of her centre part, and long ringlets to fall over each shoulder. The woman sitting with the album on her lap wove ribbons into her twists to have them falling over her left shoulder, her bow at the back holding the other half clutch of hair up off her nape. The third woman perched on a stool next to the chair rolled her hair up from the back onto her crown into a horizontal sausage, pinned the roll evenly in place, and parted her fringe centre at the front across her forehead. Each woman exposed her ears to show they were up with the most recent of modern trends, in contrast to the old-fashioned style of hair covering the ears worn by the solemn woman in No. 2 above.
At the studio Thomas Nevin would pass the dry print to his wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin to apply a light pink or rose colour to each woman's cheeks and lips, using the same colouring she had applied to several of her own portraits, and to portraits taken by Nevin of children in these years ca. 1872-1875.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Three women, with book), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142918/
Medium albumen silver photograph, coloured dyes
Measurements 9.6 × 5.9 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Accession Number 2020.373
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
5. Headstand holding adolescent girl in pink scarf
The base of Thomas Nevin's head stand is visible behind this girl's oversized, worn-out boots. A bit of the clamp holding her right arm at the elbow is also visible. The clamp gripping her head was so tight, the pain she had to endure standing motionless for a minute or more without crying or breathing normally made her eyes burn. She glowered at Nevin while heeding his instructions to keep her left hand steady, index finger pressed to the page on the book open on the table where a few flowers and feathers were gathered (on her hat, perhaps).
The poverty of this child in early adolescence is apparent in every aspect, from her plain rough cloth dress and jacket, dirty and stained, and her one ornament, a scarf made from a scrap of thin fabric, knotted at the ends which Nevin's assistant had coloured to brighten an otherwise unhappy face. This portrait could well attest to the misery of child labour as known in Victorian times. She might have been the drudge for her own large and impoverished family, or a house servant to a family such as the Chandlers who could afford to pay for her visit to the photographer's. The Chandler's photograph taken by Thomas Nevin of a beautifully groomed young George Chandler (b. 1860) in 1871 features the same studio decor : -
1. the carpet or tapis with lozenge and chain link pattern
2. the table with the griffin-shaped legs
3. flowers on the table
4. the damask drape with floral pattern at left of frame
5. the backsheet of a tiled Italianate balcony and balustrade overlooking a wide cart path beside a stream meandering to low mountains at the horizon.
These same five studio furnishings appear in a dozen or more extant cdv's taken by Thomas J. Nevin in the late 1860s to mid 1870s, including the cdv below, the heavily coloured and much faded photograph of a woman posed with Nevin's big box stereoscope viewer (No. 6), and the other cdv below of two young women in white dresses with identical hair-styles (No. 8). The backsheet of a tiled Italianate balcony appears in the cdv below of a man with bushy side whiskers, a gold Albert at his waist, and hand resting on a dining chair (No. 7). It also appears in a similar set-up Nevin used to photograph Alfred Barrett Biggs ca. 1872 and in another, a cdv of a young Mary Morrison.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Girl), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142917/
Medium albumen silver photograph, coloured dyes
Measurements 9.5 × 5.9 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription secondary inscription: inscribed in pencil on support reverse u.r.: 317
Accession Number 2020.372
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
6 . Heavily hand-coloured cdv of woman standing next to Nevin's tabletop stereo viewer
This photograph was tumbled through that big box tabletop revolving stereoscopic viewer hundreds and hundreds of times. This version has been reprinted - not from the original negative of course - but from an earlier print of the same cdv - once, twice or maybe several times over. It is a smudged, faded, and degraded copy in very poor condition which some colour-crazed owner had all but destroyed yet retained as a family photograph.
Even before the sepia dried on this print, the wet hand-colouring was applied so indecorously that the woman's over-coloured face became disfigured, unrecognizably so, while the flowers, daubed in an unnatural green, floated off into the air showing no connection to the vase. Once again, the drape in this cdv as in a dozen or more of these Nevin cdv's, received a punishingly thick coat of magenta. The woman's dress and the box stereoscopic viewer, oddly enough were left untouched.
Bizarrely, the carpet's natural pattern, its warp and weft of criss-crossing borders left to right containing lozenges and chain-links has been contradicted entirely with thick green lines running vertically up the centre from the bottom edge of the mount onto the bottom hem of the woman's dress. These coloured vertical lines were believed to deepen or extend depth of field, give longer perspective and being green, thought to invoke grass in nature. An abominable mess, or an artistic creation? Regardless, it documents a time when natural coloured photography was still decades in the making.
Thomas J. Nevin had his own "selfie" taken standing next to this much-prized tabletop revolving stereo viewer. He posed several of his clients standing next to it, both men and women, either placed at left of frame, or in one instance of a woman similar to this pose placed at right of frame. Most received colouring on the drape, light colours on some facial feature, on flowers if present, and on items of clothing.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Woman with arm resting on a table-top stereograph viewer), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142916/
Medium albumen silver photograph, coloured dyes
Measurements 9.1 × 6.0 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Accession Number 2020.371
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
7. Man with bushy mutton chops, gold fob chain and dining chair
Everything about this client's dress and demeanour, and everything about the furnished items in this studio-set up begs comparison with Thomas Nevin's full-length portrait of Alfred Barrett Biggs. This man may well have been Alfred's brother Abraham Edwin Biggs, owner and lessor of the residence and studio which Thomas Nevin had leased and operated as the City Photographic Establishment, 138-140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town since former leasee Alfred Bock's departure to Victoria in 1867. Alfred and Abraham had another brother, Isaac Henry Biggs, sons of Abraham and Eliza (Coleman) Biggs. Each brother married their respective brides all on the same day, February 22nd, 1855 in a triple wedding held at the Wesleyan Centenary Chapel, Melville-street, Hobart.
Alfred Barrett Biggs (1825–1900)
Abraham Edwin Biggs (1829-1899)
Isaac Henry Biggs (1831-1906)
The Hobart Valuation Rolls for 1872 listed Thomas Nevin as the occupier of Abraham Biggs' property, and Victoria as Abraham Biggs' place of residence, so if this man was indeed Abraham Biggs, Nevin took the opportunity to photograph him when he came to renew Nevin's lease on the studio, ca. early 1872.
Older brother Alfred Biggs may have accompanied him that day, so that each brother could be photographed in the same session, though that seems unlikely, given seasonal differences in each man's clothing, differences in where and how Nevin placed the chair to strike each man's pose and lastly, differences of light and shade in the final printing. While Alfred wore a summer suit for his portrait, this man wore a winter three piece; while Alfred held a walking stick or riding crop in one hand and steadied his left hand on the carved crest rail of the dining chair placed right of frame, this man rested his right hand on the same chair placed left of frame.
Otherwise, similarities abound between all other aspects in this portrait and quite a few other full-length portraits taken by Nevin from ca. 1871. The thin floor-covering with a lozenge and chain link pattern is everywhere in portraits right up to 1875; it even features in his wedding photo taken in July 1871 with his bride Elizabeth Rachel Day. The drape, however, which appears here and in many other of his cdv's has luckily escaped a brutal lashing of crimson or magenta paint. Turned back at the hem here it reveals the massive painted backsheet featuring a tiled Italianate balcony and balustrade overlooking a wide cart path beside a stream meandering to low mountains at the horizon. The one similar aspect of this man's dress with that of Alfred Biggs' is the touch of yellow applied to each man's gold fob chain (called an Albert) by Nevin's studio colorist who more likely than not was his wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin.
More could be said of this man's facial hair - his bushy "mutton-chops" or "burnsides," - which men of the 1870s thought represented elemental masculinity, apart from providing health benefits such as protection from sunburn and a means to keep warm in winter. Thomas Nevin wore the exact same style as his client standing before him for this portrait - whispy sideburns, a pencil-thin moustache, and a clean-shaven chin -when he was photographed with his bride Elizabeth Rachel on their wedding day in July 1871. Both men as they faced each other in Nevin's studio on this day in 1871 would have ranked themselves among the fashionable men to be seen on Elizabeth St. Hobart Town.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Man), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142915/
Medium albumen silver photograph, gold leaf
Measurements 9.6 × 5.9 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription secondary inscription: inscribed in pencil on support reverse u.l.: 1
Accession Number 2020.370
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
8. Two young women standing together in white dresses and identical hairstyles
What is it with these index fingers pointing either to a place on a page in an open book (see No's. 5, 4 and 2 above) or here, pointing to the floor? What exactly were Nevin's instructions and explanation as to the purpose of pointing when he asked these two young women wearing white dresses and identical hairstyles to ready themselves for the capture? Where had they been or where were they going in those dresses, and why was the older woman on the right scowling at Nevin? What had he said or done to upset or even offend her?
In the three examples above, the sitter's hand pointing the finger was rested on a book which was held steady by the other hand, thereby minimising movement while they waited a minute or so for the image's exposure. But here, these two young women are standing with only each other to hold them steady. Pointing their index fingers - on the left hand of the one on the right, on the right hand of the one on the left - to the floor might appear to serve no purpose unless it was a clever means of calming nerves, of minimising mindless fidgeting causing movement and blurring. As a single unit this pair were still likely to wobble and lose balance not just because of differences in height, but because one head rest appears to be holding the young one on the left but not the older one on the right. The base of the head rest is just barely visible in the space between her dress and the carpet. And then there was the banter coming from Nevin, confusing them, offending them perhaps, upsetting them to the point where the older one could not stop scowling for the duration of the exposure.
These two women may have been aunt and niece, sisters or friends rather than mother and daughter. The younger one on the left appears to be in her late teens, while the older one of the right appears to be in her twenties. What did Nevin do or say that so upset them? Did he curse or let slip some colourful language? Did he spin a limerick to amuse them? Did he joke about Catholics and Protestants because these two looked as if they were headed home from Communion rather than on their way out to a wedding or party, and as a Wesleyan he had plenty to say about religion. Perhaps he was tipsy, smelt of alcohol, and tried a bit of flirting. Whatever went down that day in 1871, the portrait he produced from the session with these two turned out just fine. It's a great portrait, clean apart from the fingerprint across their bodices, with sharp focus on the eyes, and just some light blue hand- colouring on their belts. Even details in the vista on the backsheet were in focus. Only the tear in the mount, lower left, has detracted from the value of this cdv in its 160 years since leaving Nevin's studio.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Two women), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142914/
Medium albumen silver photograph
Measurements 9.6 × 5.9 cm (image and sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription secondary inscription: inscribed in pencil on support reverse u.r.: 318
Accession Number 2020.369
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
Group C: upper body full-frontal portraits, cdv's on oval mount
9. Upper body portrait, oval mount, of a senior gentleman, beardless
This is a rare example of Thomas Nevin's blindstamp on the oval mount of a cdv portrait. The full impress should read - "T. NEVIN PHOTO." There are some examples where Nevin has hand-written his name this way in sepia on the versos of a few stereographs, prior to providing a client with a print.
The only other examples carrying this particular embossed mark are stereographs. On one held at the TMAG (Ref: Q1994.56.22) which we have titled "A Farmer and his field", Nevin imprinted the mark "T. NEVIN PHOTO" on the right side of the yellow mount. On four others, one was imprinted with the mark at bottom centre of a stereograph in a buff oval mount. Those four were taken on the Colonists' Trip to Adventure Bay (Bruny Island), 31st January 1872. Nevin was commissioned by the organiser, John Woodcock Graves the younger, to photograph VIP's among the excursionists. His group photographs included John Woodcock Graves jnr, solicitor; his daughter Jean Porthouse Graves; R. Byron Miller, barrister; Sir John O'Shanassy, former Premier of Victoria; Lukin Boyes, son of auditor and artist G. T. W. Boyes; and James Erskine Calder, former Surveyor-General, Tasmania. This stereograph too is held at the TMAG (Ref: Q1994.56.5).
Perhaps this septuagenerian was among the passengers on board The City of Hobart on that day-trip, Wednesday, 31 January 1872, though not identifiably one of the VIP's listed above. He does look familiar: because of his clean-shaven chin and full three piece suit with collar and tie, he may well have been a government official or member of the legal fraternity.
There are six extant stereographs of the day-trippers photographed in groups taken by Thomas Nevin that day; four (4) were imprinted with the mark "T. NEVIN PHOTO" so this cdv of an elderly gentleman taken by Nevin, most likely in a studio setting, can be dated quite accurately to sometime in January 1872 or thereabouts, during a period when Nevin favoured that blindstamp or mark imprinted on the mount, as distinct from verso labels and stamps.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Man), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142912/
Medium albumen silver photograph
Measurements 7.2 × 5.7 cm (image) (oval) 9.6 × 5.8 cm (sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription chock mark on sheet l.r.: NEVI(…illeg) / HO(…illeg) //
Accession Number 2020.367
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
10. Upper body portrait, oval mount, woman with amazing eyes
This is the same attractive woman with amazing eyes photographed by Nevin with her husband as a full-length portrait - see notes for cdv No. 3, Group A, above.
NGV Catalogue notes:
"No title (Woman), carte-de-visite
(1867-1875)
T. NEVIN, Hobart"
Link: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/142911/
Medium albumen silver photograph
Measurements 5.5 × 4.1 cm (image) (oval) 9.6 × 5.4 cm (sheet)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Accession Number 2020.366
Department Australian Photography
Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of John McPhee through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program, 2020
Gallery location Not on display
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