Portrait painter in Sydney in the 1840s, well-known for his portraits of prominent citizens. The son of a London painter on glass, he was convicted for passing forged cheques in Soho in May 1831, sentenced to death and had the sentence commuted to transportation for life to New South Wales. He arrived in Sydney on the Portland in May 1832. He spent between May 1833 and February 1842 at the penal settlement at Port Macquarie, then painted portraits in Sydney from 1842. He later travelled to other parts of Australia, continuing to paint portraits. He died in Sydney in October 1895 from 'old age, asthma and cerebral apoplexy'. See McCulloch, A. Encyclopaedia of Australian Art (1984) and for a full biography, Kerr, Joan. Dictionary of Australian Artists ... to 1870 (1992)
Backler, Joseph, 1815-1895
State Library of New South Wales :Backler & friends. Aspects of portraiture in colonial...
Date: 2004
By: State Library of New South Wales. Mitchell Library
Reference: ArtEph-2004-B-01
Description: Catalogue of an exhibition of 31 portraits by Sydney artists, 1840s-1860s. Includes a number of portraits by Joseph Backler. Introduction (and text?) by Richard Neville, Curator of Pictures Research, Mitchell Library Quantity: 1 booklet. Physical Description: Printed booklet, 17 p, 24 cm, stapled, maroon paper cover
Backler, Joseph 1815-1897 :Revd Samuel Marsden. First missionary to New Zealand. Born 1...
Date: 1832 - 1838
By: Backler, Joseph, 1815-1895; Read, Richard, 1796-1862; Turnbull, Alexander Horsburgh, 1868-1918
Reference: G-620
Description: Frontal head and shoulders portrait of Marsden in his clerical robes Other Titles - Reverend Samuel Marsden. Born 1765. Backler arrived in New South Wales aboard the convict ship "Portland" in 1832. This portrait may have been executed before Marsden's death in 1838, while Backler was employed by Major Thomas Mitchell as a draughtsman in Sydney. As it appears to be a copy of (Australian artist) Richard Read's 1833 watercolour portrait of Marsden (Ref. no. A-039-038) the copy may have been made later Quantity: 1 oil(s). Physical Description: Oil on canvas 757 x 626 mm (sight) Provenance: Purchased by A. H. Turnbull from Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1 October 1907, for £105. Thought to be the first oil painting purchased by Turnbull.