Bill Sutton

Bill Sutton spent seven and a half months in Italy in 1973–4, beginning with three months in Rome. The Colosseum was among his first destinations, and two days later he wrote to a friend that he was staying “in a quiet pensione, with a balcony opening on to a luxuriant courtyard. And of course, walking my feet off daily, from church to ruin to church.” Two weeks later, he recorded in his journal: “Down to the Colosseum, climbed the hill behind (side south) and got well launched into a sketch … Romantic foreground made to measure, strewn with broken columns and architraves. Needs 2 hours more and it could work”. Sutton’s Italian sojourn resulted in over a hundred watercolours and drawings that he later gifted to Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

(Timeless: Treasures from the Historical Collection 19 September 2026 –30 May 2027)