Thomas Bock’s Portraits of the Tasmanian Aborigines – N.J.B. Plomley

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Thomas Bock’s Portraits of the Tasmanian Aborigines – N.J.B. Plomley

Short Description

A scarce works by the hard working uneven tempered Plomley. For years the provenance of various Bock portraits of the last full blood Tasmanian aborigines was a mystery. There is collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford and a few at the Royal Anthropological Society in the England as well as the private Fuller collection an two original at the Tasmanian Museum Hobart. Copies at the British Museum by Thomas’s son Alfred who also had a good hand but not quite as pater, similarly a raft of images at the Tasmanian Museum by Alfred and at the British Museum by J. Grey after T Bock.

Published by the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston and edited by their Direct Frank Ellis. Larger format card cover, 25 pages, 10 pages plates of the portraits. Super condition.

The care that Plomley made to unravel all of this is impressive. It involves collections made to the Franklin’s and the handwriting of Lady Franklin comes into play. And also a collection for G.A. Robinson who both befriended and rounded up the last of the race.

All up this is a most interesting and thorough piece of art investigation. If done today for sure there would be a television three part series all about it. Maybe someone should still do that!?

Thomas Bock’s Historic Paintings and the Mystery that Surrounds Them

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