George Strafford facts for kids
George Strafford (born around 1820, died February 13, 1896) was an Australian artist and engraver. He was active from the 1840s to about 1860. Born in India, he moved to Australia in 1851. He is best known for his engraving View of Melbourne (1865). This work was published by a company called De Gruchy and Leigh. Strafford also worked with Thomas Ham and contributed to the Australian Illustrated Magazine. He faced challenges with his mental health and spent time in special hospitals like Kew Asylum and Yarra Bend Asylum. He kept drawing while at Yarra Bend and became known as 'the mad artist'. He passed away at Beechworth Asylum in Victoria.
His artworks are kept in important places like the British Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the State Library of Victoria.
Life as an Artist
George Strafford studied art in England with a famous engraver named Edward Goodall. In the early 1840s, he traveled to France with Goodall's sons, Edward the younger and Frederick, to sketch and draw. He showed his paintings of French scenes at London's Royal Academy in 1842, 1844, and 1845. He also exhibited at the British Institution in 1844.
Strafford knew John Ruskin, a very respected art critic. Ruskin thought highly of Strafford and even hired him to create designs for his Shield of Achilles. By the mid-1840s, Strafford was making creative and imaginative drawings, including Gothic fantasy scenes. Some people compared his visions to those of another famous artist, William Blake. In 1847, he married Mary Hemmings in Paris.
By the late 1840s, Strafford began to struggle with his health and mind. This was sometimes seen in his artwork. Because of his health challenges and weak lungs, he moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1851. There, he worked for Thomas Ham, creating engraved pictures for the Illustrated Australian Magazine. Some of these were The Water Seeker, The Gold Seeker, and Gold Digger of Victoria. Later, he worked for De Gruchy & Leigh, where he made the engraving Melbourne 1856 Taken from the South Side of the Yarra.
Samuel Calvert also hired Strafford in the late 1850s, especially for drawing on wood. At least twelve of Strafford's drawings were made into wood-engravings and appeared in the Newsletter of Australasia between 1859 and 1861. He also designed the borders for the cover illustrations of some issues.
Later Life and Challenges
Sadly, Strafford's wife passed away on August 21, 1857. This left him without any close family in Australia. By August 1861, his mental health struggles had increased, especially after his wife's death. A Baptist minister named John J. Mouritz helped him get care at the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum. He was admitted on September 27.
He was discharged in December 1864 and went into Mouritz's care. However, after Mouritz died, Strafford was readmitted on June 1, 1869. His friend Samuel Calvert helped with this. Strafford was later moved to Carlton Asylum in May 1871, then to Kew in June 1873, and finally to Beechworth on February 9, 1876. He died at the Beechworth Asylum on February 13, 1896. At the time, many in the art world had forgotten him. Records said he was sixty-six when he died, but he was likely about ten years older since he was showing art in the 1840s.
Art Collections
Some of Strafford's English paintings were shown in the 1869 Melbourne Public Library Art Exhibition. This exhibition also included works by Edward Goodall from Strafford's own collection. Strafford's art collection, which included his sketchbooks, was later owned by Samuel Calvert. Calvert put the collection up for auction in February 1872.
In 1888, the National Gallery of Victoria bought two of Strafford's watercolor paintings for a small amount of money. These were St. Paul’s Church and Old Princes Bridge, painted in 1854. They also acquired East of Swanston Street and Police Station, Richmond Paddock 1854 (now in the La Trobe Collection at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne). In 1904, Samuel Calvert gave four of Strafford's works to the British Museum. These included Design for a fountain 1857, Tritons, Britannia Letting Australia Walk Alone, and a watercolor called Study of a Boat.
