Elizabeth Testar

painter and singer, was born in Kent in June 1819, seventh of the twelve children of an allegedly eccentric Chatham chemist called Turner and his second wife, formerly a Miss Hetley. In 1827 the family moved to London. Elizabeth first learnt singing and pianoforte by listening in on an older sister's lessons. She taught herself French and German. Later she studied drawing under Chastellan and Pistrucci, then attended classes at the British Museum and National Gallery. Elizabeth and her sister Mary became concert singers and Elizabeth also worked as a book illustrator, being sub-contracted for instance to provide all the illustrations for a work on Italian antiquities (mainly vases) for which one Campanari had been commissioned. She received 8 guineas (and no acknowledgement) for her work.

In February 1850 Elizabeth Turner married Thomas Testar and in June they left for Victoria in the Northumberland, arriving on 26 October. Thomas was appointed paymaster in the Education Department and Elizabeth became one of Melbourne's principal singers, taking the soprano part at weekly concerts held at the Mechanics Institute for several years. Making her colonial debut in the Mechanics Hall on 5 December 1850, she was greeted with the greatest possible enthusiasm and repeatedly recalled, the Argus reported. She assisted in the formation of the Melbourne Philharmonic Society and sang at their concerts. Other engagements included singing at the opening of the Theatre Royal, then regularly at the Princess Theatre. She held solo concerts in Melbourne and Geelong and appeared in association with the visiting English prima donnas Catherine Hayes and Anna Bishop. She was the leading soprano in the St Francis's Catholic Church choir (which paid their singers) from her arrival until she bowed to pressure from her husband and retired from professional singing in April 1858. Her final public appearance was as an amateur at the music festival held to celebrate the opening of the University of Sydney's newly completed Main Building in July 1859.

Testar exhibited three paintings with the Victorian Fine Arts Society at Melbourne in 1853: The Assumption of the Virgin (after Murillo), a miniature of Lady Hamilton, and Robinetta. Reviewing the exhibition, the Argus noted 'one or two' miniatures by Mrs Testar 'which however we believe are copies'. A portrait of Mrs Testar herself was shown at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition by the painter Henry Holmes. In the early 1870s she studied at the National Gallery School under von Guérard. Her Fern Gatherer (a watercolour after the painting by Robert Herdman) and Rachel at the Well (after F. Goodall) were included with copies by other National Gallery students at the 1872 Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition, then at the 1873 London International Exhibition. At the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition in 1888 she exhibited The World, the Flesh, and the Devil and The Writing Lesson, apparently still copies.

In later years Testar served at various times as president of the Children's Hospital, vice-president of the Infant Asylum and vice-president of the St Kilda Ladies' Benevolent Society. After her death on 20 March 1908, her obituarist in the Argus stated that she had become best-known for her charity work but added, 'many old colonists will remember with pleasure her artistic powers, both as a painter and a singer'.

Staff Writer.