Conrad Martens (1801 - 21 August 1878) was an English artist active in Australia from 1835. 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The English people are an indigenous European ethnic group originating in the lowlands of Great Britain and are drawn from a composite population descended from a combination of Romano-Celts and Angles, Saxons and Jutes. ... Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. ...

A watercolour by Conrad Martens painted during the survey of Tierra del Fuego shows the Beagle being hailed by native Fuegians.

Conrad Martens' father was a merchant who came originally to London as Austrian Consul. Conrad decided he had no aptitude for a commercial career and, like his two brothers John William and Henry, studied landscape under the prominant watercolourist Copley Fielding. In 1832 he joined the ship Hyacinth as a topographic artist. In Montevideo near the end of 1833 he met Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, who engaged him as a draughtsman to replace the ship's artist Augustus Earle who had fallen ill. In this way he joined the Voyage of the Beagle and soon struck up a life-long friendship with Charles Darwin who was taking part in the expedition as a gentleman companion to the captain and self-financing naturalist. They sailed south to Patagonia, reaching Port Desire on 23 December 1833. Here Martens shot a rhea which they enjoyed eating before Darwin realised that this was the rare smaller species he had told of by the gauchos, and preserved the remains. Martens left the Beagle at Valparaiso in the second half of 1834 and took passage to Sydney via Tahiti, arriving in 1835. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1235x821, 71 KB) Summary HMS Beagle in the seaways of Tierra del Fuego, painting by Conrad Martens during the voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836), from The Illustrated Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, abridged and illustrated by Richard Leakey ISBN... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1235x821, 71 KB) Summary HMS Beagle in the seaways of Tierra del Fuego, painting by Conrad Martens during the voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836), from The Illustrated Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, abridged and illustrated by Richard Leakey ISBN... Tierra del Fuego (Spanish: land of Fire) is an archipelago at the southernmost tip of South America. ... Montevideo Independence Plaza Independence Plaza, c. ... Robert FitzRoy Vice Admiral Robert FitzRoy (July 5, 1805 - April 30, 1865) achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle and as a pioneering meteorologist who invented weather forecasts, also proving an able surveyor and hydrographer as well as Governor of New Zealand. ... HMS Beagle (centre) from an 1841 watercolour by Owen Stanley, painted during the third voyage while surveying Australia. ... HMS Beagle, from an 1841 watercolour by Owen Stanley The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, which brought him considerable fame and respect. ... In his lifetime Charles Darwin gained international fame as a controversial and influential scientist. ... Patagonia is that portion of South America which, to the east of the Andes, lies south of the Neuquén and Río Colorado rivers, and, to the west of the Andes, south of (42°S). ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Species  Rhea americana  Rhea pennata Rheas, also known as ñandú (pronounced ) are large flightless birds native to South America. ... Gauchos fight dramatization A gaucho is a South American cattle herder, the equivalent to the North American cowboy in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and (with the spelling gaúcho) southern Brazil, and formerly the Falkland Islands. ... Valparaiso is the name of at least three cities and a village: Valparaíso, Chile Valparaiso, Florida Valparaiso, Indiana Valparaiso, Nebraska This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Sydney is the capital city of the Australian state of New South Wales and Australias largest and oldest city (founded in 1788). ... Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, at 17°40′ S 149°30′ W. The island had a population of 169,674 inhabitants at the 2002 census. ...

Martens achieved instant success in Sydney as the most proficient and prolific landscape artist in the colony. The Beagle arrived in 1836, and Darwin and Captain Fitzroy commissioned a number of paintings from the Beagle's voyages in Tierra Del Fuego and the Pacific. Other large commissions followed, and in 1837 some of Martens' Australian watercolours were exhibited at the Royal Society in London. In 1839, however, a drought triggered an economic recession which was to last until the 1850s, and commissions became increasingly difficult. In the 1840s he turned to lithographs, which allowed him to sell the same work many times over - his 'View of Sydney from the North Shore' was especially popular[1]. Landscape can mean: The layout of a land area, particularly with respect to its appearance. ... Watercolor is a painting technique making use of water-soluble pigments that are either transparent or opaque and are formulated with gum to bond the pigment to the paper. ... The premises of the Royal Society in London. ... Lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface, as well as a method of manufacturing semiconductor and MEMS devices. ...

In late 1851 Martens sailed to Brisbane, travelling back across the Great Dividing Range to the Darling Downs, then south through New England to Sydney, staying en route with squatters and pastoralists, drawing their houses and properties, and hoping for commissions. The plan succeeded, and Martens was eventually commissioned to paint over seventy watercolours, nearly forty of which are still known today. Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. ...

He exhibited at the Victorian Fine Arts Society in Melbourne in 1853, and at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855. Eventual improvement in the Australian economy in the later 1850s led to an increase in significant commissions. City of Melbourne Local Government Area State Victoria Lord Mayor John So (since 2001) Area 36 km² Population (2001) 57,960 Density 1,601/km² (1999) Greater Melbourne Subdivisions Local Government Areas Area 7,694 km² (1999) Population 2001 census (2nd in Australia) 3,555,321 Density 462. ...

In 1862 he received a message from Darwin, and replied congratulating him on the success of the [[The Origin of Species]]. He sent Darwin a watercolour of Brisbane River and exhibited at the International Exhibition in London. In 1863 he became Assistant Librarian in the Parliamentary Library, securing his financial position, but severely curtailing the time he could spend on artistic work. Nevertheless, he exhibited at the Paris International Exhibition in 1867. He received his first public commission in 1872, from the Victorian Gallery (later National Gallery of Victoria), for a watercolour of Apsley Falls near Waterloo, and a second similar commission in 1875 from the New South Wales Academy of Arts (later Art Gallery of New South Wales), of whose Council he became a member in 1877. The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. ... The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) is an art gallery, open to the public, and located in The Domain in Sydney, Australia. ...

From the later 1860s Martens suffered from angina, and he died from a heart attack on 21 August 1878.

See also

Art of Australia Australia is home to perhaps the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world - that is, those of the Aboriginal Australians, an artistic tradition that began to receive international recognition in the late 20th century. ...

External links

Works