Actually John William Lewin did not want to become a painter. The eldest son of William Lewin, the scientific author of the work "The Birds of Great Britain helped his father with the illustrations already in his youth and was also mentioned by name in the preface.
Young Lewin dreamed of travelling to Australia to the colony of New South Wales. Following the footsteps of Dru Drury, a very famous English ornithologist and entomologist, he also wanted to study the ornithology and entomology of the mysterious continent of Australia. He travelled to Australia on the ship Minerva in 1800, following his wife who had made the journey the year before. The Lewin couple moved into quarters in Sidney and John William Lewin wrote illustrated books such as "Prodromus Entmology - (Natural history of lepidoptoic insects in New South Wales) as well as "Birds of New Holland" and "Birds of Suoth Wales", with which he wanted to finance his return journey to England. But the interest in his works was not very big. There are only 13 copies of the latter work left today. That is why it is today considered one of the greatest Australian bibliographical rarities. In 1810, the Lewis were still in Australia and ran a small farm on the banks of the Parramatta River. Besides, John William Lewin held the office of an official forensic scientist and made miniature paintings. In 1815, he also participated in an expedition to new areas beyond the Blue Montains and made many drawings and watercolours, most of which are now kept in the State Library of New South Wales.
But John William Lewin not only left many conventional natural history illustrations, for example of Australian insects in all stages of life or birds native to Australia. He also created strongly composed, partly large-format watercolours of exotic animals and plants of Australia and the unique landscape of New South Wales, with which he had some (also financial) success. Without appropriate artistic training, he went from being a practical observer, collector and illustrator to an artist with appropriate standards. He was one of Australia's first artists and probably so interesting because his new home was still so exotic at the time. He never returned to England.
Actually John William Lewin did not want to become a painter. The eldest son of William Lewin, the scientific author of the work "The Birds of Great Britain helped his father with the illustrations already in his youth and was also mentioned by name in the preface.
Young Lewin dreamed of travelling to Australia to the colony of New South Wales. Following the footsteps of Dru Drury, a very famous English ornithologist and entomologist, he also wanted to study the ornithology and entomology of the mysterious continent of Australia. He travelled to Australia on the ship Minerva in 1800, following his wife who had made the journey the year before. The Lewin couple moved into quarters in Sidney and John William Lewin wrote illustrated books such as "Prodromus Entmology - (Natural history of lepidoptoic insects in New South Wales) as well as "Birds of New Holland" and "Birds of Suoth Wales", with which he wanted to finance his return journey to England. But the interest in his works was not very big. There are only 13 copies of the latter work left today. That is why it is today considered one of the greatest Australian bibliographical rarities. In 1810, the Lewis were still in Australia and ran a small farm on the banks of the Parramatta River. Besides, John William Lewin held the office of an official forensic scientist and made miniature paintings. In 1815, he also participated in an expedition to new areas beyond the Blue Montains and made many drawings and watercolours, most of which are now kept in the State Library of New South Wales.
But John William Lewin not only left many conventional natural history illustrations, for example of Australian insects in all stages of life or birds native to Australia. He also created strongly composed, partly large-format watercolours of exotic animals and plants of Australia and the unique landscape of New South Wales, with which he had some (also financial) success. Without appropriate artistic training, he went from being a practical observer, collector and illustrator to an artist with appropriate standards. He was one of Australia's first artists and probably so interesting because his new home was still so exotic at the time. He never returned to England.
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