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Jacques CARABAIN
Queen Street, Auckland 1889 Left:Photograph of Queen Street, taken by George Valentine, ca 1883. "The Belgian artist Jacques Carabain, (1834-1933) was in Australia in the late 1880s, and possibly visited Auckland. Carabain may have made some preliminary drawings while here, but he certainly purchased photographer George Valentine's view of Queen Street. Valentine's photograph, taken around 1883, provided the basis for the painting, which was probably made back in Europe. Carabain also painted views of the main streets of Melbourne and Sydney similarly dated 1889, suggesting a programmed strategy by this Canaletto of colonial thoroughfares. Urban views are relatively rare in New Zealand painting of the period, when artists displayed more interest in grappling with the picturesque trappings of forest or mountain than with the realities of the inner city. Carabain's depiction of Queen Street is remarkable in showing us a streetscape, which has now almost completely changed. The viewpoint is from just below the corner of Fort Street and the imposing brick building is the Victoria Arcade, demolished in 1978 and replaced by the present Bank of New Zealand. In the later nineteenth century the Victoria Arcade housed many artists' studios, including those of the history painter Louis J. Steele, the bohemian Italian Girolamo Pieri Nerli, and the 'Gallery of New Zealand Art' in which Charles Blomfield displayed his depictions of the lost Pink and White Terraces of Rotomähana." Reference: The Guide, 2001, published by the Auckland Art Gallery.JACQUES FRANÇOIS CARABAIN was born in Amsterdam in 1834. He was a student at the Amsterdam Akademie under the guidance of J. Schoenmaker Doyer and of V. Bing. He later travelled to Italy, Germany, France and Austria. In 1880, he obtained Belgian nationality. He is known as a painter of landscapes and townscapes. |