painter, decorator and commercial artist, son of the Burgomaster of the Town of Keil, was born in Schleswig-Holstein where he trained as a painter, art decorator, wood-grainer and signwriter. His family actively supported Prussia against Denmark in 1848-64, and the upheavals in his homeland convinced the young artist to emigrate. He left Hamburg on 30 September 1864 aboard the steamship Lord Cardogan, eventually reaching Australia via Liverpool and New York. He met his wife, Mary Talty from County Clare, en route. They settled in Victoria, for a time at Emerald Hill (now South Melbourne), before moving to Bendigo where Georg Carl Jess worked as a church painter and decorator. One of his few known oil paintings, the unusual, industrial, View of the Yarra at the Turning Circle 1886, sent for auction by a direct descendant to Sotheby’s 'Fine Australian and European Paintings’, Melbourne, 28-29 April 1998, lot 155 (with biography), went for $18,400 against an estimate of $5,000-8,000.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
