VON GUERARD, Eugen (Johann Josef Eugen) 1811–1901

An Austrian painter, his father a court painter to Francis I. Studied in Dusseldorf, travelled in Italy. Landscapes owe most to the Biedermeier School. 28 December 1852 arrived in Australia with a party of educated men all come to seek gold. Went immediately to Geelong and thence to the Ballarat goldfields. It is thought that earlier he might have been in the Californian goldrush. Went to Bendigo, where had some luck, had a spell in Melbourne, and then went off to other diggings until 1855, when he settled to painting. 1870 was appointed curator of the National Gallery of Victoria and the Principal of the Art School. 1881 retired and went to England. During the years 1876–79 made visits to New Zealand; in 1876 was page 242 on a cruise to Milford Sound. His best painting period said to have been the few years he was first in Melbourne. Many of his paintings then signed “Eugene de Guerard” a sign of his feeling of internationalism. Exhibited: NZ Industrial Ex Wtn 1881. Represented: Turnbull.