Wyvill, Edward Christopher (Rev), d 1889 :Picton from the elevation. 1882.

Shows a view, looking north with the settlement of Picton in the distance. The foreground shows a railway track entering the picture in the extreme left foreground and proceeding out of sight through a cutting at the centre right. At centre left a horse-drawn cart and a standing figure are shown on a curved clay road that runs alongside the railway, towards a scattered group of buildings in the centre distance. At the left is a small stream running at the base of a bank or low cliff face. The small hill at the far left shows a few leafless trees, probably the vestiges of vegetation left after land clearing.

There may be some question about the identity of the artist. Rev Edward Christopher Wyvill is known to have been in New Zealand in the late 1850s and 1860s. The "Return of the Freeholders of New Zealand" of 1882 lists an Edward Charles Wyvill at Picton; this may have been a son. See also a letter by Tony Murray-Oliver (Alexander Turnbull Library) to Mrs T N Hay-Campbell, TL 3/1/1, 1 October 1962.

Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - [Signed]; Verso - [Title, reportedly]

Quantity: 1 oil(s).

Physical Description: Oil on board, 260 x 360 mm

Provenance: In the 1960s, owned by Mrs T N Hay-Campbell, who inherited it from her aunt Miss Ethel Carey. Mrs Hay-Campbell brought the painting into the Alexander Turnbull Library for copying, Dec-Jan 1962-1963. Miss Carey of Masterton bought the picture from Miss Joan Cleghorn in 1960 (See correspondence TL 3/1/1, 22 October 1962 with Mrs T N Hay-Campbell).