Lot 16: † Isaac Whitehead (Australian, 1819-1881) In Milford Sound, West Coast, New Zealand

Isaac Whitehead (Australian, 1819-1881)
In Milford Sound, West Coast, New Zealand
signed and dated 'I. Whitehead/1878' (lower right), inscribed '...ford Sound/West Coast N.Z./by I. Whitehead/Melbourne' on label on reverse
oil on canvas
91.5 x 117cm (36 x 46 1/16in).
Footnotes

Provenance
Property of an important Public Limited Company

The present lot depicts Lady Bowen Falls in Milford Sound, located in New Zealand's Fiordland National Park in the South Island. At 162m high, it is the tallest waterfall in the national park, facing Mitre Peak and marking the end of the River Bowen, dropping from a hanging valley and into the head of Milford Sound. The waterfall is named after Lady Diamantina Bowen (c.1832-1893), née La Contessa Diamantina di Roma, who was the wife of Sir George Bowen (1859-1868), a much-decorated British colonial administrator and fifth Governor of New Zealand (1868-1873). Milford Sound's picturesque setting has long been an attraction for tourists, with the poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) describing the area as 'the eighth Wonder of the World'.

Isaac Whitehead was born in Dublin to Joseph Whitehead, a carver and gilder, and Ann (née Studdard). He emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in c.1858, and later travelled to New Zealand in 1877-78. Whitehead painted several other views of Milford Sound and nearby areas of the west coast of the South Island.