Terms and conditions of use
A mountain torrent
(c. 1837)
Medium
oil on canvas on plywood
Measurements
74.5 × 112.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004
Gallery location
Gallery 20
Level 3, NGV Australia
About this work
English painter John Glover emigrated to what European settlers called Van Diemen’s Land, now known as Lutruwita/Tasmania, at the age of sixty-three. Along with depictions of local scenes, Glover found there was a ready market in Van Diemen’s Land for paintings of European views. These were either copies of scenes he had painted in Britain prior to immigrating to Australia, or were worked up from drawings from his British sketchbooks. A mountain torrent is thought to be a replica of one of the Welsh or Lakes District views Glover had exhibited in England in the 1820s.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Tasmania
Accession Number
2004.179
Department
Australian Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Subjects (general)
Animals Human Figures Landscapes
Subjects (specific)
dog (species) log (wood) men (male humans) mountain ranges rivers rock (inorganic material) trees waterfalls (natural bodies of water)
Frame
Reproduction, 2011, based on mid-19th century Tasmanian frames by William Wilson
Frame
A mountain torrent had been reframed in a loosely Louis XIV style frame made of composition and timber, with a patinated false gold surface (see image above). The decision to reframe the painting reflected an increasing awareness of the frames used on paintings by John Glover augmented by the exhibition that toured Australia in 2004.
The new reproduction frame was based on a frame bearing the stamp of William Wilson in a private collection, and similar frames in the collections of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart. Two reproductions of this frame were made, the other used on Glover’s The River Nile Van Diemen's Land, from Mr Glover's farm (3359-4).
Moulds of the ornaments were taken from the Wilson frame in the private collection mentioned above and the Wilson frame on Mount Wellington with Orphan Asylum, Van Diemen's Land, in the NGV collection.
The painting was cleaned in 2011.
Frame Details
Framemaker
Reproduction - crafted by the NGV
Date
2011
Materials
Wooden chassis with cast composition moulding. Surface gilded and toned.