William Watkins
Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1835, d.1904
Akaroa Harbour
- 1888
- oil on canvas
- Purchased, 1964
- 573 x 992 x 76mm
- 69/195
- View on google maps
Tags: animals, buildings (structures), cows (mammals), farming, harbors, hills, houses, landscapes (representations), natural landscapes, seas, ships, trees
This view of Akaroa harbour, on Banks Peninsula, looks down across Barry's Bay, 14 kilometres north-west of the town of Akaroa. In the centre of the painting is the Onawe Peninsula, which was once the site of a pa, or fortification, belonging to local Ngai Tahu Maori. William Watkins began his career as an amateur artist and many of his earlier paintings have a naïve quality about them. However this work is more realistic and accurate in its depiction of the landscape. It dates from after the time Watkins spent studying at the Victorian Academy of Fine Arts in Melbourne. Watkins was born in London and came to New Zealand with his family in 1850 as Canterbury Association settlers. They lived in Akaroa and Watkins became the first resident photographer living in the town. In 1876 he went to Melbourne to study. From then he exhibited regularly in Australia and New Zealand, including in the International Exhibition in Christchurch in 1882 where he was awarded a silver medal.
Read about the works by this artist in the Akaroa Museum collection.
Exhibition History
Related
Notes
A view from the Hilltop
A quick trip to the Akaroa Museum yesterday reminded me that the view overlooking Akaroa Harbour from the hilltop is still as breathtaking today as it was when colonial artists chose to paint the scene in the nineteenth century.
Notes
Akaroa Harbour by William Watkins
This article first appeared in The Press on 17 November 2004
The 4th November 2004 marked the centennial anniversary of the death of the Canterbury artist, William Montague Nevin Watkins (1835-1904). Having lived in Akaroa for most of his life Watkins, known as ‘Will the artist' to his friends, produced a substantial body of paintings relating to Banks Peninsula, particularly of Akaroa's inner harbour. The scene which unfolds in Akaroa Harbour is one of the best known and loved views of Banks Peninsula. It is as popular with today's mosdern tourists who care to make the drive over the winding road from Little River to Barry's Pass, known as the Hilltop, as it was with travellers of the 19th century. The sweeping panorama offered from the vantage point of the Hilltop provides an impressive view of Akaroa's upper harbour with Barry's Bay and the distinctive tear drop shape of Onawe Peninsula directly below. Akaroa, nestled into the hills and valleys below Stony Bay Peak, is to be seen in the distance. The breathtaking scene invites the tourist to descend down into the harbour and explore the beautiful landscape below.