GUERARD, Jean Eugene von (1811-1901)

(his first name was never used)

landscape painter

was born at Vienna in 1811. His father, Bernhard von Guerard, was court miniature painter to Francis I of Austria. As a young man Guerard spent some years in studying art in Italy and at Dusseldorf. He emigrated to Australia in 1853 and did much landscape painting. In 1866 his "Valley of the Mitta Mitta" was presented to the national gallery at Melbourne, and in 1870 the trustees purchased his "Mount Kosciusko". In the same year he was appointed master of the school of painting and curator of the gallery. He held these positions until the end of 1881 when he retired and went to live in Europe. In 1885 he published a series of lithographs of Australian landscapes. He died in England in 1901.

Von Guerard's painting was careful and finished though lacking in light and atmosphere. He had some interesting men among his pupils including F. McCubbin (q.v.) and Tom Roberts (q.v.) but appears to have had little influence on their work. He is represented at the galleries at Sydney, Melbourne and Ballarat. A large number of his pencil sketches will be found in the historical collection at the public library, Melbourne, and other examples of his work are in the Commonwealth national library at Canberra, and the Turnbull library at Wellington, N.Z.

Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler; W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; E. La T. Armstrong, The Book of the Public Library, Museums and National Gallery of Victoria.