Title of Artwork: “Mount Kosciusko, seen from the Victorian border (Mount Hope Ranges)”
Artwork by Eugene von Guerard
Year Created 1866
Summary of Mount Kosciusko, seen from the Victorian border (Mount Hope Ranges)
Eugene von Guérard drew this view of Mount Kosciuszko from the Mount Hope Ranges (Victorian border) in 1866, based on a scientific expedition to the mountain conducted by German scientist Professor Georg Balthasar von Neumayer.
All About Mount Kosciusko, seen from the Victorian border (Mount Hope Ranges)
Despite the tranquilly of this scene, the expedition’s notebooks reveal that the members of the group had to face terrible hardships.
The painting’s two contrasting sections are the dark, scary, primitive jungle and the lofty, light-drenched Mount Kosciuszko. Cockatoos and tall majestic gum trees connect these two locations.
The mountain currents carry hawks well over the treetops. The skeletal remains of the tall tree trunks frame a piece of the centre foreground where Von Neumayer rides his white horse towards his dog, Hector.
Several more horses graze peacefully in the brush while Von Neumayer and his travelling companions set up camp. In the midst of such vast natural beauty, the human beings seem inconsequential.
However, while von Guérard’s attention to scientific precision is clearly obvious, Romantic allusions to divine and poetic nature are reflected in the striking difference in scale and light.
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
