John Glover

The artist
With his son-in-law and London agent, John Lord
To Glover's daughter, Mary Bowles; thence by descent
Private collection, United Kindgom

Sixty eight pictures descriptive of the scenery and customs of the inhabitants of Van Dieman's [sic] Land, together with views in England, Italy, &c., painted by John Glover, Esq., London, June-July 1835, cat. 63

A catalogue of sixty eight pictures descriptive of the scenery and customs of the inhabitants of Van Dieman's [sic] Land, together with views in England, Italy, &c., painted by John Glover, Esq. Now exhibiting, at 106, New Bond Street, London: E. Morgan, 1835
Glover's paintings in the possession of Charles Bowles, Esq. 1868, Cheltenham: Middle Hill Press (Sir Thomas Phillipps), 1868

This work is in fair condition, though it has been cleaned and restored in at least two separate campaigns at some time in the past, and has also been relined and re-framed. While the surface has not been 'scoured' of its delicate surface glazes (as is often the case with Glover oils), there is an uncharacteristic smooth smear in the sky and distant hills at the horizon, left, and examination under ultra-violet light also reveals numerous small retouchings across the trees, water and foreground, particularly at the edges of the foliage.
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On 14 January 1835, the barque Protector sailed from Launceston, Van Diemen's Land, bearing a cargo which included 553 bales of wool, 415 hides, 781 bullock horns, forty-five tons of bark, 2,175 kangaroo skins, 300 possum skins, 279 sealskins, ninety-seven tons of whale oil, nine tons of whalebone and four cases of pictures.¹  The four cases of pictures contained sixty-eight oil paintings by the distinguished expatriate artist John Glover, bound for exhibition in London.

These works (together with a handful painted prior to emigration) were shown in London in June 1835, in an exhibition organised by the artist's son-in law, John Lord. Although the majority of the paintings were 'Descriptive of the Scenery and Customs of the Inhabitants of Van Dieman's [sic] Land', the exhibition also included two dozen 'Views of England, Italy, &c.' painted in Tasmania from sketches and memories of Europe, among them the present work.

Sun Rise. Shropshire is typical of Glover's version of the Picturesque: in its dark, framing wings of foliage; in the anchoring weight of foreground bushes; in the calm body of water at the heart of the composition; and in the meandering zig-zag into the middle distance. Above all, it typifies his interest in effects of atmosphere: in the golden streak of the distant sky; in the way the brightness of sunrise subtly suffuses the blue sky, reflecting pinkly on the evaporating clouds, and in the delicate rendering of the low, dawn light gilding the edges of leaves and bushes.

The device of figures disposed in or near a body of water was a particular favourite of eighteenth and early nineteenth century Picturesque landscapists, and Glover was certainly no exception; his paintings commonly feature the lakes of the Italian Campagna, the meres of Cumbria and the lochs of Scotland, and rivers from England's Thames and Wear to Van Diemen's Land's Derwent and Nile. This is possibly a view on the river Teme, with Clee Hill in the background.  Here the figures are not herdsmen, gypsies, anglers or other conventional rural staffage, but naked bathers, contemporary versions of classical naiads or water nymphs.

Sun Rise. Shropshire's specific structure of figures on a river, one with arms outstretched preparatory to diving in, and another already in the water and swimming occurs in a number of other works, notably Marchington Woodlands, Needwood Forest (circa 1825?, collection John Millwood, Launceston) In Kensington Gardens (1837, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston) and the well-known Tasmanian subjects The bath of Diana, Van Diemen's Land (1837, National Gallery of Australia) and Natives on the Ouse River, Van Diemen's Land (1838, Art Gallery of New South Wales).

The present work has a particularly significant provenance, having remained until now in the hands of the artist's descendants, and being one of the very few family pictures to survive a bomb strike during the London Blitz of World War II.

1. Launceston Advertiser, 15 January 1835