JOHN GLOVER (1767-1849)
Ben Lomond or Tudema tura (1,572m - 5,157ft)
Australia (Tasmania)
In Mr Talbot’s Property- four men catching opposums
National Gallery of Australia
The mountain
Ben Lomond (1,572m - 5,157ft) or Turbunna or Tudema Tura in Tasmanian Aboriginal Palawa langage, not to be confused with Ben Lomond eponymus name of the mountain in Scotland, is a mountain in the north of Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is composed of a central massif with an extensive plateau high outlier peaks projecting from the mountain. The highest feature on the plateau is the unimposing summit of Legges Tor, at 1572 m, on the northern aspect of the plateau. The southern end of the plateau is dominated by Stacks Bluff, which is an imposing feature that drops away above the surrounding foothills. The prominent outlier peaks of Ragged Jack, Mensa Moor and Tower Hill surround the plateau. Ben Lomond is east of Launceston in the Ben Lomond National Park. Tasmania's premier Alpine skiing operations are located at Ben Lomond with downhill skiing facilities in the State. Its accessibility from Launceston, together with the existence of a ski village on the plateau make Ben Lomond an all year round favourite for tourists and hikers. Access to the village and summit can be made via several walking tracks or via a zig-zag road known as "Jacobs Ladder".
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Palawa name for Ben Lomond was usually recorded as Turbunna, Toorbunna or Toorerpunner. It is said to mean 'Rain Tail'. Modern etymological researchers of the Palawa lexicon assert that, in addition to turbunna, there were several names for Ben Lomond:
Parndoke, Parndokenne, Loonder, Tritterer, Tudema tura (a name for Ben Lomond recorded by John Glover).
Although the mountain was seen by Flinders on his circumnavigation of Tasmania, the modern name was given by Colonel Paterson, who founded the first settlement in northern Tasmania in 1804, and is taken from the eponymous Scottish mountain. There is no isolated peak named Ben Lomond but instead the name may refer to the plateau, massif, bioregion or national park in which it is situated. In colonial times 'Ben Lomond' referred to both the southern extremity of the massif and the country around the southern escarpment. The toponym does not appear cartographically in reference to the entire massif until the 1900s; when Stacks Bluff also appeared on modern maps.
The painter
John Glover was an English-born Australian artist during the early colonial period of Australian art. In Australia he has been dubbed "the father of Australian landscape painting".
In his youth, the Countess of Harrington helped establish his practice as an art instructor, and may have taken lessons from him herself. Removed to London in 1805, became a member of the Old Water Colour Society, and was elected its president in 1807. In the ensuing years he exhibited a large number of pictures at the exhibitions of this society, and also at the Royal Academy and the Society of British Artists. He had one-man shows in London in 1823 and 1824. He was a very successful artist and, although never elected a member of the Academy, his reputation stood very high with the public. He became known in both England and France as the English Claude. This phrase was making comparison with Glover and the French seventeenth century artist Claude Lorrain, whose works collected by eighteenth century English "grand tourists", strongly influenced the evolution of the English style, in both painting and the layout of landscape gardens.
On his 64th birthday in 1831,Glover decided to move to Australia and arrived in Tasmania He brought with him a strong reputation as a landscape painter. From April 1831 until early 1832 he lived in Hobart on a property named "Stanwell Hall", which can be seen in his work Hobart Town, taken from the garden where I lived. In 1832 he acquired one of the largest grants of land in Van Diemen's Land at the time at Mills Plains, Deddington.
Glover is best known now for his paintings of the Tasmanian landscape. He gave a fresh treatment to the effects of the Australian sunlight on the native bushland by depicting it bright and clear, a definite departure from the darker "English country garden" paradigm. Note this example Patterdale Farm (circa 1840). His treatment of the local flora was also new because it was a more accurate depiction of the Australian trees and scrubland. Glover noted the "remarkable peculiarity of the trees" in Australia and observed that "however numerous, they rarely prevent your tracing through them the whole distant country".
Natives on the Ouse River, Van Diemen’s Land (1838) is "informed by European notions of an Antipodean Arcadia, with Indigenous people living in a landscape unsullied by European contact." John Glover's last major work was painted on his 79th birthday.
The John Glover Society was established on Aug 22, 2001 to honor and promote Glover's memory and his contribution to Australian art. The society commissioned a life-size statue of Glover, unveiled in February 2003 in Evandale, Tasmania. It also runs the annual Glover Prize, which is held in Evandale.
John Glover's work features in many prominent art galleries throughout Australia (and the world). His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and a symposium in Australia.
From 2004, The John Glover Society has awarded the Glover Prize for depictions of Tasmanian landscapes. It is the richest art prize in Australia for landscape painting.
Source:
- John Glover at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
