First Fleet artwork collection

A view of the coastline at the South West Cape of Tasmania. The drawing is composed of horizontal bands of sea, land and sky, with the sky occupying just over half the composition. The land is composed of several dark grey-green islands in front of the yellow-green mainland with blue-grey hills behind, the effect of distance being created through the use of aerial perspective. The sea is represented by a gradated wash of green through pale yellow to blue, overlaid in the foreground with two-tone grey brush marks. The sky is represented by a gradated wash of blue through yellow to pink towards the horizon. The drawing is framed by a triple-banded ink border, with a panel in the middle of the central band below the drawing in which the title is inscribed in brown ink.

• Port Jackson Painter
• The drawing is inscribed in blue pencil at top right with the number "7", which refers to the pre-1984 numbering system for the Watling Collection.
• The drawing is inscribed in brown ink in a panel beneath the drawing with the title "A View of Vandiemans Land the SW Cape bearing ESE distance 5 or 6 Miles".
• 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 12003
• 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 105, p. 101.)