Showing posts with label Clothing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clothing. Show all posts

Prisoner Albert DORAN 1874

Prisoner Albert DORAN or Alfred or Archibald DORMAN
Photographer T. J. NEVIN at the MPO 1874 and Hobart Gaol 1875
Crimean shirts, photos by J. Bishop-Osborne


The TMAG copy
The verso of this cdv of Albert Doran bears his name - or rather his incorrectly transcribed alias - the ship on which he was transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), the inscription - "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" - and the number "35" . This information was inscribed by photographer and collector John Watt Beattie with his assistant Edward Searle in the early 1900s for the tourist market despite their provenance as official police documents. The number "35" on the verso of this cdv also appears on the bottom right of Beattie's sepia reprint from Nevin's original negative, inscribed by Beattie when preparing the print to be pasted to one of three panels he offered for sale in 1916 at his "Port Arthur Museum" located at 51 Murray St. Hobart (see below). This cdv, together with another 300 or so Tasmanian mugshots, was accessioned at the QVMAG Launceston from Beattie's estate on his death in the 1930s.

Between February and April 1983, five dozen or more cdv's from Beattie's collection of mugshots held at the QVMAG in Launceston were removed and exhibited at the Port Arthur prison site south of Hobart for the Port Arthur Conservation and Development Project (PACDP). To keep track of them, each was numbered in pencil on the front mount underneath the prisoner's image. Those numbers do not correspond to the original numbers written on the versos by Beattie in the early 1900s. After the exhibition, fifty (50) or so of those cdv's exhibited at Port Arthur in 1983 were not reinstated in Beattie's collection at the QVMAG, they were deposited instead at the TMAG in Hobart. An inventory of 200 mugshots drawn up in the 1980s at the QVMAG with these new numbers recto showed 127 were missing, dispersed to national and state libraries, museums and even publishers, and 72 were remaining. Albert Doran's mugshot, numbered "21" on the mount in the removal to Port Arthur and relocation to the TMAG in Hobart, was among those missing.The QVMAG inventory list can be viewed here.





Prisoner DORAN, Alfred [sic - registered by police as Albert Frederick DORAN, transported as Archibald Dorman, arrested as Alfred Dorman, Dormian and Albert Doran.
Source: TMAG Ref: Q15580

Albert Doran was transferred from Launceston to the Hobart Gaol on 29 Dec 1873. He was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin at the Police Office Hobart on 18 February 1874 when he was arrested for escaping from a gang at the Cascades Reservoir. Within days, on 22 February 1874, he was sent to the Port Arthur prison, 50 kms south of Hobart. He was transferred back to the Hobart Gaol - the Hobart House of Corrections - on 9 March 1875 when Nevin would have printed more duplicates of his cdv to be pasted to Doran's rap sheet. Unfortunately, these rap sheets from the 1870s seem not to have survived. This information is taken from the conduct record below:



Albert Doran as Archibald Dorman and McQueen
Tried Launceston Court 17 Sept 1872 Four years imprisonment with hard labor
Removed to Hobart Town 29 Dec 1873
PO Hobart Town 18.2.74 Escaping 6 months imprisonment with hard labor
Received again at Port Arthur 22 Feb 1874
Transferred to the Hobart House of Corrections 9 March 1875
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON94-1-2/CON94-1-2P61

The QVMAG copies
Albert Doran's photograph in this panel is top row first on left. It is one of three panels with 40 uncut sepia mugshots which John Watt Beattie offered for sale at his convictaria museum, Hobart, from his 1916 catalogue.



QVMAG Collection: Ref : 1983_p_0163-0176 (one of three panels)



The photograph (above) is an unmounted sepia print from the negative of Thomas J. Nevin’s sitting with Albert Doran taken at the MPO 18 February 1874. It is held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. In the early 1900s John Watt Beattie salvaged this unmounted print from the Hobart Gaol records for display at his "Port Arthur Museum" located in Murray Street Hobart, and for inclusion in intercolonial travelling exhibitions of convictaria associated with the fake convict hulk, Success, Hobart, Adelaide, and Sydney. Beattie pasted this print on one of three panels of 40 sepia uncut prints of Tasmanian prisoners sourced from the Hobart Gaol Sherriff's Office and the Municipal Police Office, Town Hall, removing them from prisoners' rap sheets and the police "Photo Books" of mugshots. He offered the three panels for sale in his 1916 Catalogue. The number "35" visible in reverse at bottom right of the print was inscribed by Beattie for numbering the print and the cdv he produced for display and sale as tourist souvenirs.

Original glass plate negatives by T. J. Nevin 1870s
Reprints by J. W. Beattie ca. 1915
QVMAG Collection: Ref : 1983_p_0163-0176




"Unknown" convict at the QVMAG. Ref: QVM: 1985:P: 200151
Link: https://collection.qvmag.tas.gov.au/fmi/webd/QVMAGweb

Albert Doran's photograph, as one of the 40 mugshots pasted to three panels and offered for sale by Beattie in 1916, was reprinted in black and white from Beattie's reprint of Nevin's original sepia negative in 1985 by Chris Long during a short "residency" at the QVMAG. He fogged out cracks, dirt and scratches in the process for reasons known only to himself since these particular copies serve no apparent purpose.The prisoner, however, was not identified as Albert Doran at the QVMAG because the carte-de-visite print in an oval mount of this same capture (e.g. the TMAG cdv above) which was inscribed with his name and ship verso in the early 1900s had been removed from the QVMAG in 1983 for exhibition at the Port Arthur Heritage site. He was therefore listed as "Unknown" when put online in the 2000s (QVMAG. Ref: QVM: 1985:P: 200151).

The Archives Office Tasmania copy



Archives Office of Tasmania webshot 2005
Reference: PH30/1/3257
Title: Alfred Doran or Albert Dorman


Caption: Alfred Doran, probably Albert Dorman, convict transported per Blenheim. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin.

DUPLICATE or COPY?
This mounted cdv of Albert Doran now held at the Archives Office Tasmania is either a duplicate made by Nevin from his original in 1874 (he produced 4 prints from his negative at the one sitting with the prisoner) or a poor copy of the cdv now held at the TMAG (see above). As a copy it was most likely sourced as an estray from Radcliffe's tourist attraction at Port Arthur (by then called Carnavon) in the 1930s called "The Old Curiosity Shop" where he displayed convictaria originally sourced from Beattie's collections.



Archives Office of Tasmania APA citation 2013:
"Alfred Doran, probably Albert Dorman, convict transported per Blenheim. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin. LINC Tasmania"
BDM details: Albert DORAN
ARRIVAL VDL (Hobart) 1851 as Archibald Dorman, Alfred Dorman https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1388173
Dorman, Albert
Record Type: Convicts
Departure date: 29 Jul 1851
Departure port: Cork
Ship: Blenheim (4)
Place of origin: Down
Remarks: Transported as Archibald Dorman
Conviction: Larceny of plate, transported for 7 years per Blenheim 4
Source: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON33-1-104/CON33-1-104P84



Transportation record, listed as Archibald Dorman, labourer, 24 years old
LInk: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON33-1-104/CON33-1-104P84

CONDUCT 1857 -Albert Dorman
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1502869
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON94-1-2/CON94-1-2P61

CHILDREN with Bridget Kenny
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/964845
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/968990 [and more etc etc]

DEATH 21 November 1890 New Town Charitable Inst 66 yrs old
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/RGD35-1-13/RGD35-1-13P6

Police Gazette and Court Records
Sources: The Archives Office of Tasmania for original documents. Additional information from the weekly police gazettes, Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police, J. Barnard, Gov't printer, and court records with links from the Prosecution Project, Griffith University from Archives Office of Tasmania records.
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1388173;
Link: https://app.prosecutionproject.griffith.edu.au/web/public-search/search

1857: larceny
Larceny, sentenced to 2 yrs HM Gaol with hard labor
https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1502869

Name: Dorman, Albert
Record Type: Court
Status: Free by servitude
Trial date: 23 Jul 1857
Place of trial: Oatlands
Offense: Stealing 1 pair of candlesticks value: 20/- and other articles the property of daniel brown
Verdict: Guilty

1863: housebreaking
Larceny 1863 housebreaking with Bridget Doran
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_223

106576 ALBERT DORAN MALE HOUSEBREAKING AND STEALING 1863-07-29 HOBART TOWN SMITH NOT GUILTY Link 1 and Link 2

1864: discharged
Discharged 1864 by proclamation
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_252

106780 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1864-06-01 HOBART TOWN SMITH DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION Link 1 and Link 2

The reason for Albert Doran's discharge by proclamation probably came down to a lack of evidence or witnesses. This episode in 1861 prompted the reporter to query discharge by proclamation:
DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION. Our readers know that when a prisoner has been "committed" to take his trial it not unfrequently happens, or rather it too frequently happens, that the grand jury of the colony, the Attorney-General, declines to file a bill of indictment. In that case when the court is in session the crier at the command of the judge begins, "0yez, 0yez, 0yer," and invites all and sundry who know of treason, felonies, &c., against the prisoner, to come forward and prosecute, and the functionary then informs all and sundry that if they will not or cannot do so, the prisoner will be discharged, and discharged he is. At the last sessions of the Supreme Court, this operation was performed in the case of two individuals charged with housebreaking, brought home to them by the clearest and most conclusive evidence. A witness saw part of the property identified, in the dwelling of the prisoners. Another witness saw them jointly planting property on the north side of the Cataract. The police were informed of this, and two detectives discovered the articles. They also found a counterpane belonging to the prosecutor on the bed of the prisoners. The male prisoner was seen in the plundered dwelling on the day of the robbery. Now why were not these persons left to the disposal of a jury ? Why were they discharged by proclamation ? We ask on public grounds and in the interests of justice to society -Can any satisfactory explanation be given ? We fear not.
Source: Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), Tuesday 22 January 1861, page 2

1872: larceny
Larceny, tried Launceston, 4 yrs imprisonment
https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/ab693-1-1/ab693-1-1_101
He was charged with stealing a gun and spoons.

112579 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1872 08-24 GUILTY4 YEARS Link 1

1874: absconding
Absconding 1874, served 6 months
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AB693-1-1/AB693-1-1_101



Albert Doran, alias Archibald Dormian ship Blenheim (4), warrant for absconding, published in the police gazette, 6 February 1874:

TRANSCRIPT
ABSCONDED
On the 2nd instant, dressed in grey clothing, from the Gang employed at the Reservoir near the Cascade factory, whilst undergoing a sentence of four years passed on him at the General Sessions, Launceston, on 17th September 1872 for Larceny.
Albert Doran, alias Archibald Dormian, ship Blenheim (4), F.S., 45 years of age, 5 feet 4½ inches high, ruddy complexion, long head, greyish hair, whiskers shaved, round visage. high forehead, sandy eyebrows, blue eyes, medium nose, small mouth, an Irishman, a gardener, speck in left eye, scar centre of forehead, mole on centre of left cheek.
Warrant for Albert Dorian 6 Feb 1874; arrest on 20 Feb 1874.



Albert Doran was arrested on 20 February 1874 by the Oatlands Municipal Police. He absconded from this reservoir, photographed by Thomas Nevin's friend and business partner Samuel Clifford in the 1860s:

Cascades Reservoir 1860s

Description: Photograph - Mt Wellington from the Cascade Brewery Reservoir, photographer Samuel Clifford, Liverpool Street, Hobart
Item Number: LPIC147/5/159
Start Date: 01 Jan 1860 End Date: 31 Dec 1869
Source:Tasmanian Archives
Link:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/LPIC147-5-159




Storage reservoir, H.T. waterworks Clifford photo.
Author/Creator: Clifford, Samuel, 1827-1890.
Publication Information: 1867.
Physical description: 1 photograph : sepia toned ; 8 x 8 cm.
Notes: Title printed on label and pasted below image.
Inscribed below image lower left in ink: Clifford photo. ; right: 1867.
For descriptive notes by Alfred Abbott see his notebook item 192.
In: Abbott album Item 112
Citation: Digitised item from: W L Crowther Library, State Library of Tasmania.
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Library/SD_ILS-136580

1877: discharged
Albert Doran, using the alias William Hales, was charged with stealing two silver spoons.



Albert Doran, 50 yrs old also known to police as Dorman or Dorman, per Blenheim 4 was discharged from the Hobart Gaol on 21 February 1877 from sentencing of 4 yrs in Sept 1872 and absconding for 6 months from a gang in 1874.

1878: assault and rape
Assault and rape 1878 - ignored together with John Hall
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AB693-1-1/AB693-1-1_117
The charge was "ignored" - what was the meaning then? Was it was dropped by the complainant?

117738 ALBERT DORAN MALE ASSAULT AND RAPE 1878-06-21 IGNORED Link 1

1879: fraud



TRANSCRIPT
The Crimean shirts obtained from Mr. W. J. Jarvis have been recovered by D. C. McMurray, of the Hobart Territorial Police, and Albert Frederick Doran convicted of the offence.
Albert Doran was convicted of obtaining five Crimean shirts from Jarvis's drapery Murray by fraudulent means, sentenced to three months.

The CRIMEAN SHIRT
As told by Google AI:
The "Crimean shirt" is so named because it was a style of shirt commonly worn by soldiers during the Crimean War (1853-1856). It was typically a wide, collared, V-necked shirt, often made of flannel, and usually without buttons. It often came in solid colors like red or blue, and was frequently worn with a sash or belt around the waist. The design allowed for ease of movement, and the sleeves were often rolled up during work, making it a practical choice for soldiers and laborers. The shirt's popularity extended beyond the Crimean War, becoming a common piece of clothing for bushmen, stockmen, and miners in Australia, especially from the 1860s onward.The Crimean War also gave rise to other clothing items, including the cardigan and balaclava hood, reflecting the need for warm clothing during the conflict.
Commercial photographer John Bishop-Osborne was active in Tasmania in the years 1879-1894. The posed tableau (below) of rugged and relaxed masculinity may have been at the request of a local tobacconist wishing to advertise his stock and wares. The message: smoking pleasure awaits working-class men of the bush if they were to indulge in a certain brand of tobacco and pipe, a pleasure enhanced no doubt by wearing a Crimean shirt in a choice of styles.

Modelled here are four styles: two men wear the short sleeve collarless style with a V-neck - one standing centre, the other seated on left in a darker colour. The man seated at centre wears the long-sleeve collarless button-to-the neck style, and the man standing to the right wears a dark - possibly red - long-sleeve style open to the waist with a full collar. The man reclining, pointing to the future, wears a short sleeve button-to-the neck style. Bishop-Osborne was favoured for his portaits of actors and celebrities. His five models for this tableau may have been actors in a production at the Theatre Royal. Alfred Dampier’s stage adaptation of Boldrewood’s Robbery Under Arms played there on December 26, 1896, with Dampier in the lead as Captain Starlight. See Addendum below for another of his group photographs, this time of men in Crimean shirts actually working, taken at the Zeehan silvermines.



From © The Private Collection of John & Robyn McCullagh 2005-2007. ARR.
Link: https://johnmccullagh.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/bishop-osbornes-pipe-smokers/

1879: convicted and discharged



Frederick Albert Doran per Blenheim 3 [sic - 4], 50 yrs old, gardener, resident of Hobart, Free in Service (FS), two previous convictions, was convicted during the week ending 6 September 1879 of obtaining goods by false pretences.



Listed with Frederick - "Fredk" as first name, "A" for Albert as middle name, Albert Doran per Blenheim 4. tried Hobart 2 September 1879 for obtaining goods by false pretences was sentenced at Hobart for three months. Description: 51 yrs old, born Ireland, 5 ft 4 ins , light brown hair, speck left eye, scar centre forehead, mole left cheek, scar back of left arm. Discharged from H. M. Gaol week ending 3 December 1879.

Addenda
1. Supreme Court Records 1863-64



Discharged 1864 by proclamation
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_252

106780 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1864-06-01 HOBART TOWN SMITH DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION Link 1 and Link 2



Larceny 1863 housebreaking with Bridget Doran
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_223

106576 ALBERT DORAN MALE HOUSEBREAKING AND STEALING 1863-07-29 HOBART TOWN SMITH NOT GUILTY Link 1 and Link 2

106780 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1864-06-01 HOBART TOWN SMITH DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION Link 1 and Link 2

Source: The Prosecution Project, Griffith University from Archives Office of Tasmania records
Link: https://app.prosecutionproject.griffith.edu.au/web/public-search/search


2. Miners in Crimean work shirts



Source: https://findlotsonline.com/auction-lot-details/769346/

BISHOP-OSBORNE, John [1851-1934] - Silver Miners near Zeehan, northwest Tasmania, circa 1891-94
Silver albumen print photograph, cabinet card format, 110 x 160mm; verso with photographer’s wet stamp.
Notes:A Hobart photographer, Bishop-Osborne was based at Zeehan between 1891 and 1894. Large deposits of silver-lead ore had been discovered in the area in 1882 and by 1893, 14,000 tonnes were being mined each year.

RELATED POSTS main weblog

Studio portraits by T. J. Nevin 1860s-1870s, gifts of John McPhee to the National Gallery of Victoria

Gifts to the NGV Melbourne from the private collection of John McPHEE
Studio portraits by Thomas J. NEVIN 1860s-1870s, Hobart Tasmania

John McPhee 2023 QVMAG

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.

T. Nevin convict photographs QVMAG 1977

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:

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.



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 312, 313, 315, 316, 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.

ho Are You: Australian Portraiture NGV 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:
The versos of nine of these ten cdv's carry the same studio mark as the cdv above of the woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow. It was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele, a more decorative version of an earlier design by Alfred Bock featuring a belt and buckle cartouche encircling both names now, his and his former colleague's - "T. NEVIN late A. BOCK" , the belt enclosing the firm's name -"City Photographic Establishment" and topped with a kangaroo perched below the Latin aspirational motto "Ad Altiora" loosely meaning "To higher things." Underneath, their studio address "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town" was printed in block letters, and below that in italics "Further Copies can be obtained at any time." Thomas Nevin acquired Alfred Bock's lease on the studio, the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart Town, on Alfred Bock's insolvency in 1865 and departure to Victoria in 1867. Another design used by Nevin included the initial of his middle name - "J" for James - "T. J. Nevin" - which was printed exclusively as his government contractor stamp on the versos on prisoners' mugshots, portraits of government officials and their families, and government contractors' property such as Samuel Page's Royal Mail coach.

The verso of cdv No. 9 (see below), the upper body portrait in an oval buff mount of a senior beardless gentleman, does not bear the same stamp as the nine in this group of ten cdv's. It is blank apart from traces of the embossed imprint on the recto - "T. NEVIN PHOTO". The pencilled secondary inscription and reference in the NGV catalogue notes to the partial "chock" on the front of this cdv, 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 seven cdv's carry verso the same secondary pencilled inscription of a letter and/or a 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.

  • "312" = upper right, 312 on the verso of 9. Upper body portrait, oval mount, of a senior gentleman, beardless
  • "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
  • "316" = upper right 316 on the verso of 10. Upper body portrait, oval mount, woman with amazing eyes
  • "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
  • 7.    Man with bushy mutton chops, gold fob chain and dining chair

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).



The cdv image: Young boy in suit holding hat, right arm resting on a table next to a basket of flowers.
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: A solemn couple in their thirties.
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: Professional couple, well-dressed and relaxed
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: Three women, two in black, one on the slipper chair with a photo album
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.




The cdv image: Headstand holding adolescent girl in pink scarf
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: Heavily hand-coloured cdv of woman standing next to Nevin's tabletop stereo viewer
The cdv verso: Numbered 176 in top left corner. Very stained. Stamped "T. Nevin late A. Bock" - Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: Man with bushy mutton chops, gold fob chain and dining chair.
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: Two young women standing together in white dresses and identical hairstyles
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: Upper body portrait, oval mount, of a senior gentleman, beardless
The cdv verso: Numbered "312" otherwise blank apart from trace of embossed mark on recto (see A Note on the Versos above).



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.



The cdv image: Upper body portrait, oval mount, woman with amazing eyes
The cdv verso: "T. Nevin late A. Bock" was Thomas Nevin's most frequently used commercial studio mark for private clientele featuring a belt and buckle cartouche (see A Note on the Versos 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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