Studio portrait of poet Henry Kendall. Sydney, circa 1880.

A$1,800 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Albumen print photograph, carte de visite format, 102 x 62 mm (mount), verso with imprint of J. Hubert Newman, Photographer, Oil and Crayon Painter etc., No. 12 Oxford Street, Hyde Park, Sydney, N.S.W. ; the print has some light rubbing and a few tiny ink spots, but is otherwise in very good condition, as is the mount. A rare portrait of one of the most significant Australian literary figures of the nineteenth century. This portrait of Kendall dates from the brief period late in his life when he had become something of a celebrity. It was taken around 1880 in the studio of J. Hubert Newman, Sydney s leading society photographer of the time. It is probably the most well-known image of Kendall, for the simple reason that it was extensively copied and circulated after his death in 1882: by Adelaide photographer S. Milbourn Jnr for his posthumously published cartes de visite of the poet (see examples in the NPG and SLV), in various lithographed versions (for example, the anonymous print in the SLNSW, P1/878), and even as late as the 1920s (see the example by May and Mina Moore in the NLA, PIC P653/17 LOC M4). However, the only other example of the original carte de visite by Newman we have been able to trace in Australian collections is one held in the State Library of New South Wales (PXA 362 vol.6 no.125). From the ADB: Thomas Henry Kendall (1839-1882), poet, was born on 18 April 1839 at Ulladulla, New South Wales, the twin son of Basil Kendall and his wife Melinda, née McNally

• Binding: Hardcover

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