Robert Dowling (1827-1886)

In Tasmania recently I saw some of the paintings of John Glover. They are far better and much more interesting than the usual text books suggest. I also really like Robert Dowling. Both should be regarded as Australian orientalist painters. Glover has scenes from Paestum in Italy and elsewhere. Dowling travelled to Egypt and North Africa, then on to London, before returning to Melbourne where he finished life as a modest portrait painter. I find Dowling's depictions of the aborigines more interesting than Glover's.

Here is a series of paintings by Robert Dowling:

Minjah in the Old Time

The Sheihk and his Son Return to Cairo after the Pilgrimage to Mecca

Jeremiah Ware's Stock.

The Gleaner

Camels in Cairo (watercolour on board)

Mrs Aldophus Sceales and Black Jimmy

Early Efforts - Art in Australia

Mrs Robertson (Dolly from Colac)

The most conceptually interesting painting here is 'Early Effort - Art in Australia' which he painted in London in order to illustrate to people there what artists did in the Australian colony. We see the artist, his family and his subject, the aborigines.