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PORTFOLIO 132 A ugustus Earle Eleven Years Abroad (1818–1829) By Jonathan Fogel 1818 on the first leg of what was to be an epic and extended round-the-world journey. In this, he was something of a pioneer. Artists had accompanied military and scientific expeditions in the past—perhaps most notably the professionals Sydney Parkinson, William Hodges, and John Webber, and talented amateurs like William Bligh— but these had offici al or at least quasi-official status. Earle was on his own and for the most part supported himself with his art as he went, exhibiting and selling paintings where he co uld and taking on portrait comm issions as his needs required, all the while sketching and painting subjects that were of interest to him. Over the course of the next eleven years, he became the first professional artist to visit all six inhabited continents. In the United States, he worked and exhibited in both New York and Philadelphia, and there is some indication that he may have traveled west and encountered Native Americans, though none of his works from this time are known. In February of 1 820, he depar ted for South America, where h e spent several years traveling both coasts, sojour ning twice in Rio de Janeiro. His depictions of Native and Mestizo life are striking, as are his images of the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego (figs. 2 & 3), but perhaps most interesting are his depictions of slavery and the violence associated with it. In this, he was sending a pointed abolit ionist message to those who v iewed his works. Most prominent among these was his 1823 oil painting, The Gate of Pernambuco, a particularly brutal slave scene that he sent back to England, where it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824. In February of that year, he departed Rio de Janeiro bound for India, a trip that was to prove considerably longer than he had expected. Weather forced the ship he was on to shelter at the rocky Tristan da Cunhas in the South Atlantic. He and a companion went ashore and were stranded A son of the prominent New England Earle family, Augustus Earle was bor n in Lon don in 1793. Like others in his family, he showed considerable artistic promise early in life and, following in the footsteps of both his father and uncle (who spelled their surname Earl), exhibited at the Royal Academy, though he started at just age thirteen. Af ter showing at the Academy several times over the next nine years, he departed for the Mediterranean in 1815, where he accompanied hi s step-brother, a naval o fficer, for two years patrols. o n largely uneventful squadron During this time, he sketched and painted landscapes, figure studies, and architectural features, some of which garnered attention upon his return to London. Apparently Earle remained r e stless because he departed for New York in March of FIG. 1: Solitude, Watching the Horizon at Sun Set, In the Hopes of Seeing a Vessel, Tristan de Acunha i.e. da Cunha in the South Atlantic, 1824 or after. Ex Rex Nan Kivell (1898–1977). Watercolor on paper. 17.5 x 25.7 cm. National Library of Australia, Sydney, inv. 2315097.


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