December

When Louisa Anne Meredith arrived in Australia in 1839, she was already an accomplished and published artist, author, poet and botanist and she went on to become one of the most prolific European-born artists working in Australia during the early nineteenth century. She produced at least twelve books during her lifetime, which contain poetry, fiction and biographical accounts of life spent mostly living in Tasmania, as well as studies of local flora and fauna.

The artist’s deep interest in both the creative arts and science informed this painting of a selection of winter flowers and fruits. The rare early watercolour

was created in 1833, prior to the 1835 publication of her first book of poems and before her marriage to Charles Meredith (1811–1880), which had prompted her subsequent move to Australia. The finely executed painting is one of four watercolours by the artist acquired by the Gallery and depicts English flowers that correspond to the months of the year (January, August, September and December). Contained in a leather-bound folio, they were originally accompanied by a poem and inscribed with a decorative border typical of those that embellished Meredith’s publications over the following decades. The painting offers rare insight into the early interests of this important nineteenth-century artist, while displaying her remarkable skill. 

Elle Freak, Associate Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture