[Earle, Augustus] 1793-1838 :Cower Cower River [1827]

View in the Bay of Islands showing the Waikare River. A Maori man is seated on hillside in the right foreground, with a musket on the ground beside him. To his right is a Maori man is carving a canoe prow and a woman is seated on the far right. Behind the group is a tree that appears to be being used as a storage platform or pataka. The beach in the foreground is English Bay with three canoes in the water, and Okiato Point is across the river on the left. Despite the title, the picture does not show the Kawakawa River

Formed part of the larger panorama shown by Robert Burford in London 1837-39 (Robert Burford, 'Description of a view of the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, and the surrounding country', London : Printed by G. Nichols, [1838]); the paper has number 3, inscribed lower left, and number 4, inscribed lower right. Also has fold-line to right of centre. There are pinholes top left, top right, lower left and lower centre

There are several date errors in A. W. F. Fuller's statement on the verso of this work.

Other Titles - Waikare River; Kawakawa River

Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - '3' marked in ink at lower left edge; Recto - bottom right - '4'; Recto - beneath image - Title [ink ink]. Also in faint pencil, left of title Waikari River, and right of title Karakara Bay.; Verso - pencil note in the hand of A W F Fuller: A. W. F. Fuller. 17 Dec.r 1925. Purchased by me at a sale with sundry other drawings & prints. There is no doubt that it is by Augustus Earle who spent 9 months in N. Z. in 1827. He was the draughtsman to H. M. S. 'The Beagle', published his 'Journal' in 1832. In 1835 he published 10 large lithographs with brief descriptions. Earle in his Journal spells the Kerikeri R 'Cower Cower' + at the back of the large oil painting in my collection, (formerly in the Duke of Grafton's gallery) he writes 'Portrait of Aranghi Tooker, Chief of the Cower Cower River, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, with his wife and son. Painted at New Zealand. Augustus Earle, 17 Howland Street, Fitzroy Square'.

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Watercolour 235 x 535 mm

Provenance: Purchased at an auction in England by A W F Fuller, ca 1925. Later purchased by Mrs T J Leigh, London.