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Lot Essay
Until now unidentified, this stunning painting, depicts the Sydney-based schooner, Isabella, anchored off one of the Torres Strait Islands, off the Queensland coast. The picture shows the rescue of the young boy, William D'Oyly, son of Charles D'Oyly, a captain in the Bengal artillery, in 1836 from Murray Island. The fascinating story of the rescue and the events leading up to it had captivated the nineteenth-century British public, who learnt about it in news reports of the day. Carmichael never travelled to the area but painted the picture from the basis of the British newspaper reports, as he would later do with Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition to New Zealand, 1847.
The Charles Eaton, an English barque, had been wrecked on 15th August 1834 en route from Sydney to Canton. Two months after setting out, it struck a reef near the entrance to the Torres Strait and sank. It was at first thought that everyone on board had perished but, almost two years later, rumours of survivors began to circulate. Late in 1836, a young boy, William D'Oyly, and the Charles Eaton's former cabin boy, John Ireland, were discovered on Murray Island and rescued by the Isabella.
Most of the evidence for the fearsome reputation of the islanders came from the account of the teenage John Ireland. At the time of their rescue, in 1836, a ceremonial mask made of turtle shells surrounded by numerous skulls was recovered from a neighbouring island. Seventeen of these were determined as having belonged to the rest of the crew and passengers of the Charles Eaton, who were supposed to have been massacred when they came ashore following the shipwreck. The mask was entered into the collection of the Australian Museum, after the skulls were buried on 12th November 1836 in a mass grave at Bunnerong Cemetery, Sydney. Despite this bloodthirsty story, the two boys appear to have been well treated after they were sold to a Murray Islander, both were in good health at the time of their rescue, and it was reported that D'Oyly wept for days at being parted from his Murray Island family.
One other picture depicting this subject is known to have been painted by Carmichael in 1841. It was sold by Sotheby's, London, 19 July 1972, lot 143, and was acquired in 2010 by the National Gallery of Australia (Accession No: NGA 2010.92). Carmichael must have executed the picture depicted here first, and then decided to reproduce the painting to feature more of the Queensland landscape, as the 1841 piece shows the island craft on the right hand side of the painting, setting off from the beach to meet the Isabella. As the current lot pre-dates the National Gallery of Australia's work by two years, this work appears to be the earliest known depiction in oil of the Queensland landscape, and the first European image of the Torres Strait Islands.
The Charles Eaton, an English barque, had been wrecked on 15
Most of the evidence for the fearsome reputation of the islanders came from the account of the teenage John Ireland. At the time of their rescue, in 1836, a ceremonial mask made of turtle shells surrounded by numerous skulls was recovered from a neighbouring island. Seventeen of these were determined as having belonged to the rest of the crew and passengers of the Charles Eaton, who were supposed to have been massacred when they came ashore following the shipwreck. The mask was entered into the collection of the Australian Museum, after the skulls were buried on 12
One other picture depicting this subject is known to have been painted by Carmichael in 1841. It was sold by Sotheby's, London, 19 July 1972, lot 143, and was acquired in 2010 by the National Gallery of Australia (Accession No: NGA 2010.92). Carmichael must have executed the picture depicted here first, and then decided to reproduce the painting to feature more of the Queensland landscape, as the 1841 piece shows the island craft on the right hand side of the painting, setting off from the beach to meet the Isabella. As the current lot pre-dates the National Gallery of Australia's work by two years, this work appears to be the earliest known depiction in oil of the Queensland landscape, and the first European image of the Torres Strait Islands.