John Michael Crossland (29 September 1799,

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

- 1858,

Encounter Bay Encounter Bay is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the state's south central coast about south of the state capital of Adelaide. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his encounter on 8 April 1802 with Nicolas Baud ...

) was an English portrait painter who spent his last years in Australia.

Biography

His father, John Sr., was a Sergeant Major in the

31st Regiment of Foot The 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1702. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot to form the East Surrey Regiment in 1881. History Origins ...

. Nothing is known of him for certain until he began his first studies at the

Royal Academy School The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

. After 1832, he was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy and the

Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

. Some of his best known portraits from that period were of officials at St. Anne's Society.Biography
@ Design & Art Australia. In 1833, he married Jane Clarke Worledge and they would eventually have ten children. He apparently travelled to Italy, as he held an exhibition of Italian-themed paintings and one of his sons was christened Jerome Ambrosini. In 1851, he and his family, then numbering seven children, emigrated to Australia, settling in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He was the only classically trained portrait painter in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

at that time. His most familiar portraits were a series on Captain

Charles Sturt Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and la ...

, including an official portrait for Parliament House, completed in 1853. Among his other well-known sitters were

Henry Young Sir Henry Edward Fox Young, KCMG (23 April 1803 – 18 September 1870) was the fifth Governor of South Australia, serving in that role from 2 August 1848 until 20 December 1854. He was then the first Governor of Tasmania, from 1855 until 1861. ...

, Sir Charles Cooper,

George Fife Angas George Fife Angas (1 May 1789 – 15 May 1879) was an English businessman and banker who, while residing in England, played a significant part in the formation and establishment of the Province of South Australia. He established the South Aus ...

and the Very Reverend James Farrell, Anglican Dean of Adelaide. Today, he is remembered for having created the first known professional portraits of Native Australians ( Aborigines), commissioned in 1854 by Archdeacon Matthew Hale, who had created a community at

Poonindie __NOTOC__ Poonindie is a small township near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The land upon which it sits was originally the land of the Barngarla people. Poonindie Mission was established as a mission for Aboriginal people ...

with an eye towards converting them to Christianity and integrating them into society. The paintings are currently in the possession of the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

. He was represented at the first exhibition of the

South Australian Society of Arts The South Australian Society of Arts was a society for artists in South Australia, later with a royal warrant renamed The Royal South Australian Society of Arts in 1935. History A meeting of persons interested in the formation of a society for the ...

(1857) and was shown there posthumously for several years after his death in 1858, apparently from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

References

External links

John Michael Crossland
@ RootsWeb {{DEFAULTSORT:Crossland, John Michael 1799 births 1858 deaths Australian portrait painters English emigrants to colonial Australia