Johan Jacob Bennetter
A bore on the Hooghli
A ship captain himself until the 1840's, the Norwegian
born Johan Jakob Bennetter attended the Christiania School of
Design in Oslo before venturing to France in 1855 to further his
studies. He was best known for his detailed and accurate
depictions of ships at sea.
Painted after his return to Norway in 1880, A bore
on the Hooghli relates to a natural phenomenon that is known
as a bore tide. These fast flowing high waters occur
following an extremely low tide when there is a rush of seawater
into a narrow shallow inlet from a broad bay such as this, where
the Hooghli River enters the Bay of Bengal, India.
One of two seascapes by this artist owned by the
Gallery - the other, known as The first shot features a
battle between a ship flying the East India company's
flag, and a French ship.of the Napoleonic era... Both
of these works and indeed several other early acquisitions,
came to Australia through the agency of Alfred Fletcher, an
art dealer in Melbourne during the boom period of the 1880's.