First Fleet artwork collection

View of Government House and the settlement at Sydney Cove, as seen from off-shore with several small boats in the foreground. The settlement is separated by a fence from the dense woodland behind it, and is predominantly represented by even washes of muted colours and hard edges, in contrast to the softer layered and stippled technique used for the uncleared land. Government House itself, a symmetrical building of pale stone with a blue-grey roof, is depicted slightly to the left of the centre of the composition, on the side of a hill overlooking the cove with cultivated gardens in front of it. The majority of the other buildings are towards the right of the composition, including the wharf and boat huts and the flag-staff carrying the Union Jack of Queen Anne. The sea is represented by pale blue wash overlaid with grey horizontal brush marks in the foreground, and the sky with blue washes towards the top around unpainted areas. The drawing is framed with a thick black ink line and a triple-banded border, the central band of which is coloured with a pink wash and contains the title. Most of the outer band appears to have been lost through the drawing having been cropped.