First Fleet artwork collection

A wounded aboriginal man in a landscape. The drawing is framed in tondo with a black ink border, measuring 17.3 cm. in diameter. The man is depicted sitting by water in the pose of the classical Greek sculpture of the Dying Gaul, with his upper body propped up by his right arm and his left arm pressing on his right knee. His chest is pierced by a spear, and blood drips from the two wounds, creating pools on the ground. The shaft of the spear has broken off and lies on the ground behind him. His skin is painted dark brown, with darker shading describing the muscles of his arms, legs and abdomen. The water in front of him is represented by a blue wash overlaid with grey horizontal brush marks. The ground on which he sits and the foliage of the trees in the background at left are represented by a green wash overlaid with horizontal brush marks in darker shades of green. The sky is composed of unpainted areas and blue wash, with some pink patches. The drawing is annotated in brown ink and framed by a pencil border.

• Port Jackson Painter]
• The drawing is inscribed in blue pancil at top right with the number "61", which refers to the pre-1984 numbering system for the Watling Collection.
• The drawing is annotated in very pale brown ink at bottom "A Native Wounded while asleep -".
• The drawing is unsigned and undated.
• The author of this catalogue record is Suzanne Stenning.
• By permission of the trustees of the Natural History Museum (London).
• Two sets of transparencies held in the Natural History Museum (London) Zoology Library and Picture Library: Picture Library order number 12052
• James Lee of Kensington : purchased ; 1902
• Data sheet available.
• Wheeler, A. and Smith, B, (eds.) The Art of the First Fleet and other early Australian Drawings. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1988. (Plate 52, p. 38.)
• Smith, Bernard. European Vision and the South Pacific. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1985. pp.160-161, fig. 105.