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Large cavern at Wellington Valley, New South Wales , Thomas Livingstone Mitchell
  • Artist
    Thomas Livingstone Mitchell
  • Born
    1792
  • Died
    1855
  • Title
    Large cavern at Wellington Valley, New South Wales
  • Date of Production
    c. 1836
  • Medium
    sepia wash on paper on card
  • Dimensions
    sheet: 39.3 x 30.4 cm, comp: 32.8 x 27.1 cm
  • Credit Details
    Gift of Victor Fox, 1979

Thomas Livingstone Mitchell

Large cavern at Wellington Valley, New South Wales

Appointed Surveyor General of New South Wales in 1828 Mitchell was also a skilled painter.  This sepia wash, which is one of the earliest Australian works in the collection, effectively  captures the mystery and grandeur of the scene by contrasting the tiny human figure against the mighty stalagmites and stalactites of the cave.

A lithograph of a similar scene showing a group of explorers instead of the solitary figure can be found in Mitchell's Journal of an Expedition to the Rivers Darling and Murray in the Year 1836.  This was published in his 1839 work  Three expeditions into the Interior  of East Australia.