Harden Sidney Melville (1824-1894) stands as a fascinating figure in the annals of 19th-century British art, a painter, illustrator, and draughtsman whose career was notably shaped by his participation in one of the era's significant scientific and surveying expeditions. Born into an artistic milieu in London, Melville's work offers a valuable window into the colonial encounters, natural history documentation, and artistic practices of his time. While perhaps not as universally recognized today as some of his contemporaries like J.M.W. Turner or John Constable, whose landscape innovations redefined British art, Melville's contributions, particularly his visual records of Australia and the Pacific, hold undeniable historical and artistic importance.
Early Life and Artistic Foundations
Harden Sidney Melville was born in London on May 2, 1824. His upbringing was steeped in the arts, a common narrative for many artists of the period. His father, Henry Melville (c. 1792–1870), was a respected engraver, printer, and watercolourist. This familial connection undoubtedly provided young Harden with early exposure to artistic techniques and the professional art world of London. It's highly probable that his initial training came directly from his father, learning the fundamentals of drawing, composition, and perhaps the intricacies of printmaking processes that his father mastered.
This foundational education was further solidified by formal study. Melville attended the prestigious Royal Academy Schools, a key institution for aspiring artists in Britain. His talent was recognized early; he exhibited three paintings at the Royal Academy's summer exhibitions between 1837 and 1838, a significant achievement for an artist so young – he would have been merely thirteen or fourteen at his first showing. He continued to exhibit there until 1841. Furthermore, he received a medal from the Society of British Artists, an alternative exhibiting society to the Royal Academy, co-founded by artists like John Glover, who himself would later emigrate and become a prominent landscape painter in Australia. These early successes indicated a promising career within the conventional paths of the London art scene.
The Call of Adventure: Draughtsman on HMS Fly
Melville's trajectory took a decisive turn when, at the remarkably young age of seventeen or eighteen, he was appointed as the official salaried draughtsman for the surveying voyage of HMS Fly. This expedition, which lasted from 1842 to 1846, was commissioned by the British Admiralty to conduct a hydrographic survey of the northeast coast of Australia, including the treacherous waters of the Great Barrier Reef, the Torres Strait, and parts of New Guinea. The naturalist on board was Joseph Beete Jukes, and the commander was Captain Francis Price Blackwood.
The role of an official artist on such voyages was crucial. In an age before widespread photography, drawings and watercolours were the primary means of visually documenting new lands, peoples, flora, fauna, and geological formations. These images served scientific, cartographic, and public informational purposes. Melville's task was to create an accurate and comprehensive visual record. This placed him in a lineage of expeditionary artists that included figures like Sydney Parkinson and William Hodges, who sailed with Captain James Cook, and later Conrad Martens, who served on HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin before settling in Australia.
During these four years, Melville was immensely productive. He created a vast portfolio of sketches, watercolours, and drawings depicting the landscapes, the indigenous peoples of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, their customs, dwellings, and maritime craft, as well as the unique wildlife encountered. His observations were firsthand, often made under challenging conditions. These works were not merely picturesque views; they were intended as data, visual evidence to accompany the scientific findings and cartographic surveys of the expedition.
Documenting New Worlds: Key Works and Publications
Upon his return to England, Melville's work from the HMS Fly voyage found several avenues for dissemination. A significant publication was Sketches in Australia and the adjacent islands, taken during the surveying voyage of H.M.S. Fly and Bramble...1842-46 (c. 1849). This volume featured a series of hand-coloured lithographs based on his original drawings and watercolours. Lithography, a planographic printing process invented by Alois Senefelder in the late 18th century and popularized throughout the 19th, was well-suited for reproducing the tonal qualities of drawings. The hand-colouring further enhanced their appeal and documentary value. These prints provided the British public with vivid glimpses into relatively unknown parts of the world.
Another notable, albeit anonymously published, work was The Adventures of a Griffin on a Voyage of Discovery (1851). This travelogue, written by Melville himself, was illustrated with his own woodcut engravings. Wood engraving, a relief printing technique refined by Thomas Bewick in the late 18th century, was a popular method for book illustration due to its ability to produce fine detail and be printed alongside type. The book recounted his experiences and observations from the voyage in a more narrative and perhaps embellished form.
One of Melville's most frequently cited paintings is The Squatters Hut: News From Home. This work, likely painted after his return, depicts a scene of colonial life in Australia. It shows settlers in a rustic dwelling, eagerly receiving news from Britain. The painting captures a sense of isolation and the strong ties to the motherland felt by many colonists. This painting gained wider circulation when it was reproduced by the renowned printer George Baxter (1804-1867) using his patented Baxter Process. Baxter's innovative colour printing method, which involved a key plate (often an aquatint or steel engraving) and multiple relief woodblocks for each colour, allowed for affordable mass production of colour prints. Baxter reissued Melville's image under the title Australia, and it became a popular depiction of colonial life, resonating with a public fascinated by the distant British colonies. This collaboration with Baxter, a master of his craft, significantly increased the visibility of Melville's imagery.
A later, but historically significant, work is Torres Strait Canoe and Five Men at the Site of a Wreck on the Island of the Charles Hardy Sirs, Cape Grenville, North East Australia, 1874. This painting, dated some years after the voyage, likely draws upon his earlier sketches and memories. It is considered a rare and important visual document of early interactions between Torres Strait Islanders and Europeans, specifically depicting islanders near a shipwreck. Such scenes provide invaluable ethnographic and historical insights, especially as few visual records of these specific encounters exist from this period. The work of artists like Augustus Earle, who also documented indigenous life in Australia and New Zealand a decade or so earlier, provides a comparative context for Melville's ethnographic depictions.
Melville also reportedly provided nineteen drawings and two maps for Joseph Beete Jukes's Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S. Fly (1847), the official account of the expedition. This direct contribution to the scientific publication underscores the integral role of his artwork in the expedition's official output.
Artistic Style, Techniques, and Influences
Harden Sidney Melville's artistic style was primarily rooted in the British tradition of topographical and documentary watercolour painting. His works from the HMS Fly voyage emphasize accuracy, clarity, and detailed observation, characteristics essential for their scientific and recording purpose. His landscapes often exhibit a careful rendering of geological features, coastlines, and vegetation, reflecting the surveying nature of the expedition. Similarly, his depictions of Indigenous peoples, their artefacts, and canoes, while filtered through a European lens, aimed for a degree of ethnographic accuracy.
His proficiency in watercolour is evident in the surviving originals. This medium, championed by artists like Paul Sandby in the 18th century and brought to new heights by J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Girtin, was ideal for fieldwork due to its portability and quick-drying properties. Melville's watercolours often display a competent handling of wash and line, capturing light and atmosphere effectively.
In his oil paintings, such as The Squatters Hut, Melville employed a more conventional narrative and compositional approach typical of mid-19th-century genre painting. The style is realistic, with attention to detail in figures, costume, and setting, aiming to tell a clear story. This adaptability suggests an artist aware of different artistic demands – the precision required for scientific illustration versus the narrative appeal sought in exhibition pieces for the London art market.
Melville was also adept as a printmaker, or at least in preparing his drawings for print. His involvement with lithography for Sketches in Australia and wood engraving for The Adventures of a Griffin demonstrates a versatility in working across different reproductive media. This was not uncommon for artists of the period; many, like the French illustrator Gustave Doré, became famous through their widely circulated prints.
The source material mentions that Melville's watercolours of Australian subjects showed similarities to those of Augustus Porcher, suggesting a possible artistic connection or shared stylistic approach, perhaps even collaboration. Porcher was also associated with maritime expeditions and documenting foreign lands. Melville's style can be broadly placed within the naturalistic and realistic trends of the mid-19th century, a period that also saw the rise of Pre-Raphaelitism with artists like Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, though Melville's work does not align with their specific aesthetic or ideological concerns. His focus remained more on factual representation, akin to the work of other colonial artists like S.T. Gill in Australia, known for his lively sketches of everyday life and the goldfields.
Later Career in London
After his return from the Pacific, Harden Sidney Melville settled in London and continued his artistic career. He worked as a painter and watercolourist, and his works were exhibited, including at the Royal Academy. He also undertook illustration work for other authors and projects. For instance, he is noted for providing illustrations for S.C. Breslin's New Zealand sketches, transforming them into a panorama in London. Panoramas were a hugely popular form of public entertainment in the 19th century, offering immersive visual experiences of distant lands or historical events, created by artists like Robert Barker and later, many others.
He also contributed five illustrations to James Goodridge's Curiosities of Animal Life (1864). This type of natural history illustration was a common field for artists with a keen eye for detail and experience in depicting flora and fauna, a skill Melville had honed during the HMS Fly voyage. Artists like Edward Lear, famous for his nonsense verse, was also a highly accomplished ornithological illustrator.
Despite these activities, Melville's later career does not appear to have reached the same level of prominence as some of his contemporaries who specialized in grand historical paintings or fashionable portraiture, such as Sir Edwin Landseer, known for his animal paintings, or William Powell Frith, celebrated for his detailed panoramas of Victorian life like Derby Day. Melville's strength and perhaps his niche remained in subjects related to exploration, ethnography, and natural history, or scenes of colonial life.
The source material indicates he adapted his style to market demands, suggesting a pragmatic approach to his career. This adaptability, while commercially sensible, might have been viewed by some later art critics as a dilution of a singular artistic vision, a common debate in art historical assessments.
Personal Life, Anecdotes, and Challenges
Harden Sidney Melville married Fanny Beale on October 21 (or 22, sources vary slightly), 1851. The couple had at least five children: Frances E., Henry B., Jessie M., and Lydia are named. The provided information hints at a "complex" relationship with his wife and potential "family internal contradictions," but specific details of these personal challenges are scarce. Such domestic complexities were, of course, not unique to artists but part of the broader human experience.
An interesting point of potential confusion arose from his brother, Henry Alfred Melville, who was also an artist and lived in Sydney, Australia. It's noted that Harden Sidney was sometimes mistaken for his brother, which could have led to misattributions of works or confusion regarding their respective careers, especially given Harden's own significant Australian connection.
Melville continued to live and work in London throughout the latter half of the 19th century. He passed away in 1894, at the age of 70. His death occurred during a period when artistic styles were rapidly evolving, with Impressionism having taken hold in France (Claude Monet, Edgar Degas) and Post-Impressionist movements emerging with artists like Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, the latter himself having a strong connection to the Pacific.
Critical Reception and Legacy
During his lifetime, Harden Sidney Melville achieved a degree of recognition. His early Royal Academy exhibitions, the Society of British Artists medal, and his role as an official expeditionary artist all point to a respected professional status. His published works, particularly those reproduced by George Baxter, would have reached a relatively wide audience. The primary value of his work, especially from the HMS Fly voyage, was likely seen in its documentary and informational content.
Art critical evaluation, as suggested by the provided text, seems to have evolved. While initially valued for his skill and the novelty of his subject matter, later assessments might have placed more emphasis on the "historical record" aspect of his work rather than purely aesthetic innovation. This is a common fate for artists whose work is closely tied to scientific or exploratory endeavors. Their art often serves multiple purposes, and its aesthetic qualities can sometimes be overshadowed by its scientific or ethnographic utility.
The painting Torres Strait Canoe is highlighted as a rare and important document, yet there's a suggestion its full impact might not have been completely recognized by contemporary or later critics. This can happen when works are primarily valued for their subject matter by historians or anthropologists, while art critics might be looking for different qualities, such as stylistic innovation or emotional depth, perhaps found more readily in the works of Romantic painters like Caspar David Friedrich or the dramatic seascapes of his contemporary, Ivan Aivazovsky.
Melville's legacy primarily rests on his contribution to the visual record of mid-19th-century exploration in the Pacific. His images of Australian landscapes, Indigenous peoples, and colonial life provide invaluable historical insights. They are primary source documents that help us understand not only the places and peoples depicted but also the mindset and observational practices of the European explorers and colonizers. His work is held in various collections, particularly those specializing in maritime history, Australian history, and ethnographic art.
In the broader context of British art, Melville represents a specific type of artist: the explorer-documentarian. While the grand narratives of art history often focus on major stylistic movements and iconic figures, artists like Melville played a crucial role in expanding the visual lexicon and contributing to the scientific and imperial projects of their time. His work, when viewed alongside that of other colonial artists such as Thomas Baines, who documented expeditions in Africa and Australia, helps to form a more complete picture of 19th-century global encounters and their visual representation.
Conclusion
Harden Sidney Melville was an artist of considerable talent and diverse skills, whose career was indelibly marked by his youthful adventure aboard HMS Fly. From his early training in his father's studio and the Royal Academy Schools to his meticulous documentation of Australia and the Torres Strait, and his later career as a painter and illustrator in London, Melville navigated the varied demands of the 19th-century art world. His representative works, including Sketches in Australia and the adjacent islands, The Adventures of a Griffin, The Squatters Hut: News From Home, and Torres Strait Canoe, offer more than just artistic merit; they are vital historical documents.
While he may not have achieved the lasting fame of some of his celebrated contemporaries, his contributions to ethnographic and topographical art, and his role in visually conveying the "discoveries" of British exploration to the public, secure his place in the history of art. His paintings and prints continue to be studied for their insights into colonial history, Indigenous cultures, and the intersection of art and science in the Victorian era. Harden Sidney Melville remains a testament to the artist as observer, recorder, and interpreter of a rapidly changing world.
