J. H.

  • Artist (Draughtsman)
Sketcher, there appear to be at least two different artists using the initials J. H.. One was a convict in Van Diemen's Land, in 1831, the other drew a portrait of John Batman.
Talk | Version history | Updated Oct. 19, 2011 | Created Jan. 1, 1992
Name
J. H.
Gender
Unknown
Roles
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
Active Period
  • c.1854
Languages
  • English
Is Indigenous
No
Initial Record Data Source
  • The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870

sketcher, drew a (posthumous?) pencil portrait (Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney) of John Batman (1801-39). The 'J.H.’ who initialled an oval watercolour portrait of Major Edmund Lockyer in about 1854 (Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney) may be the same person, but the 'J.H.’ who signed and dated etchings on brick in the Macquarie Harbour prison, Van Diemen’s Land, in 1831 was undoubtedly another artist. His style was quite distinctive, as David Burn commented: 'In cell no.4, some penitentiary artist (“J.H. 1831”) had repeatedly developed the ruling passion for sundry mimic drop-scenes scratched in the brick work. Pensile imagery appears to have been this worthy’s peculiar forte, multiple copies of such interesting pictures being hung throughout the prison. Close to one of these … we beheld the name of “Daniel O’Connell”.’

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011
associate of
Major Edmund Lockyer
Non-Artist/Designer/Curator
associate of
John McCormack
Artist (Industrial / Product Designer), Artist (Cartoonist / Illustrator), Artist (Painter)
(Portrait of Major Edmund Lockyer)
Date
1854
Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
Collections
Citations:
  • Burn, D., (1842), An Overland Journey of Sir John Franklin and Party, (Place: Hobart, Tas. (reprint ed. Mackaness, G., Sydney, NSW 1955))