William Beetham (25 July 1809 – 3 August 1888) was an English-born portrait painter, who painted mainly in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. He exhibited his paintings at the

Royal Academy of Arts 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 ...

in London (1834–53) and painted in Hamburg, Copenhagen and at the court of the Tsar in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He emigrated to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1855 and became a significant figure as a colonist, pastoralist and portrait artist. He had a society clientele and received commissions to paint portraits of aristocrats and national leaders, including important

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

Rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the hereditary Māori leaders of a hapū. Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land and that ...

chiefs. Beetham's paintings are in the permanent collection of the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

and

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

in Wellington. He was the founder and Chair of the

New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts (also referred to as the Wellington Art Society) was founded in Wellington in July 1882 as The Fine Arts Association of New Zealand. Founding artists included painters William Beetham (first president of the Ass ...

in 1882. Mezzotint prints of Beetham's drawings are in the permanent collection of the

Science Museum, London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

Beetham's paintings and drawings have also sold at

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought to ...

auction house.

Biography

William Beetham R.A. was born in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, South Yorkshire, England and started his career painting scenes of his home town. His grandfather Joshua Beetham Sr established 'Beetham Wine and Spirits' merchants which lasted for five generations. William established his reputation as a society portraitist, firstly in England by painting portraits (oil on canvas) of noble dignitary such as the Reverend

Nathaniel Bond Nathaniel Bond KS (14 June 163431 August 1707), of Creech Grange in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament. Bond was the fourth son of Denis Bond, a prominent politician during the Interregnum, succeedin ...

and the former Prime Minister

F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon, (1 November 1782 – 28 January 1859), styled The Honourable F. J. Robinson until 1827 and known between 1827 and 1833 as The Viscount Goderich (pronounced ), the name by which he is best known to ...

(1843). He exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy Of Art, London and travelled overseas to paint in Hamburg, Copenhagen and at the Court of the Tsar in St. Petersburg. His decision to emigrate to New Zealand in 1855 was motivated by the improved financial opportunities in the colonies and a desire to settle his large family of seven sons and three daughters on pastoral land. Beetham at 46 years of age and a European (pakeha) became one of the early settlers in New Zealand's colonial history when he arrived aboard the ''William and Jane''

Steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

Port Nicholson A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...

, Wellington harbour on 1 December 1855. He settled at Te Mako,

Taita Taita may refer to: * Taita people, a Bantu ethnic group in Kenya * Taita language, a Bantu language *Taitā, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt City * Taita Hills, a mountain range in Kenya * Taita Cushitic languages, an extinct pair of Afro-Asi ...

in the

Hutt Valley The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...

in 1860 after taking over a lease of land from Māori Chief

Wi Tako Ngātata Wiremu Tako Ngātata (1815 – 8 November 1887) was a New Zealand Te Āti Awa leader, peacemaker and politician. He was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council on 11 October 1872; he was (with Mokena Kohere) one of the first two Māori ...

of Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Ruanui and Taranaki iwi, who was the most influential Māori chief in Wellington at that time and lived nearby at Naenae. The land was owned by Alexander Currie, chairman of the directors of the New Zealand Company. After Chief Wi Tako relinquished the lease of Te Mako in 1860, he agreed to have entrusted in Beetham's care a nationally significant Māori pātaka store house ''Nuku Tewhatewha'' that he had commissioned in 1856. This was carved by Horonuku Te Heu Heu of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. This

taonga ''Taonga'' or ''taoka'' (in South Island Māori) is a Maori-language word that refers to a treasured possession in Māori culture. It lacks a direct translation into English, making its use in the Treaty of Waitangi significant. The current d ...

remains an important Māori carving and a symbol of solidarity and support to the Māori King movement Kingitanga. It formed one of the seven "Pillars of the Kingdom" (Nga Pou o te Kingitanga) and is the only one to have survived. In 1982, after 122 years of care Hugh Beetham, William's great grandson decided to return the pātaka to the City of Lower Hutt and it is now permanently housed at the

Dowse Art Museum The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Opening in 1971 in the Lower Hutt CBD, The Dowse occupies a stand-alone building adjacent to other municipal facilities. The building was completely remodelled in 20 ...

. Beetham eventually purchased the Te Mako land in 1876. In 1856 Beetham also purchased a leasehold for land at Wainuioru in the Wairarapa for his sons, which by 1857 they had developed into the Brancepeth Estate. After the marriage of his eldest daughter Annie Beetham to T.C. Williams in 1858, Brancepeth was rapidly expanded and run by the Beetham-Williams family partnership to become one of the largest pastorals stations in New Zealand with 77,000 acres, 100,000 sheep, 300 employees and a 32 room homestead (10,000 sq ft) of Scottish baronial styled design with battlemented tower. Designed by the architect Joshua Charlesworth,

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

has listed Brancepeth as a Category 1 site. Brancepeth was used as a location for Board meetings of the International Wool Secretariat in 1964 and also visited by H.R.H.

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

when he wanted to observe an exemplary sheep station in New Zealand. Brancepeth also welcomed the BBC and

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

to film farming in NZ for the British public. Beetham remained in the Hutt Valley where he farmed a small holding, though painting remained his private and public priority. In accordance with the tradition of Victorian portrait painters, Beetham never signed or dated his work. The subjects were considered of more importance than the artist. Identification of the artist of such work relies on solid provenance. Beetham's first commission to paint Māori came within a month of his arrival to NZ when Tamihana Te Rauparaha requested a posthumous portrait of his father

Te Rauparaha Te Rauparaha (c.1768 – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars, receiving the nickname "the Napoleon of the South". He was influential in the original ...

, a Māori

rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the hereditary Māori leaders of a hapū. Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land and that ...

Chief and war leader of the

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its ''rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston N ...

tribe who composed the famous

Haka Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompani ...

called

Ka Mate "Ka Mate" () is a Māori haka composed by Te Rauparaha, war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe of the North Island of New Zealand. Composition Te Rauparaha composed "Ka Mate" circa 1820 as a celebration of life over death after his lucky escape from ...

. Beetham also painted Te Rauparaha's wife Rita or Ruth. Beetham's portraits of Māori preceded those of

C. F. Goldie Charles Frederick Goldie (20 October 187011 July 1947) was a New Zealand artist, best known for his portrayal of Māori dignitaries. Early life Goldie was born in Auckland on 20 October 1870. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Charle ...

and

Gottfried Lindauer Gottfried Lindauer (5 January 1839 – 13 June 1926) was a Bohemian and New Zealand artist famous for his portraits, including many of Māori people. Czech life and Austrian school He was born Bohumír Lindauer in Plzeň (Pilsen), Western Bo ...

and many commissions followed with the Māori noting Beetham’s accurate painting of the

Tā moko ' is the permanent marking or "tattoo" as traditionally practised by Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. It is one of the five main Polynesian tattoo styles (the other four are Marquesan, Samoan, Tahitian and Hawaiian). (tattoois ...

. Beetham painted the Māori rangatira chiefs in Regency style to indicate class and status. Most of the Māori sitters in Beetham's portraits are pictured in formal European dress as many of the younger chiefs had grown up among pakeha and adopted their European dress and hairstyles. Beetham rarely dated or signed his portraits, which was a common practise amongst portrait artists of his era. Beetham’s portraits were popular among Māori and pakeha alike, and his paintings of social groups, urban and rural leaders, children and family groups, provide a fascinating light on social as well as political interactions of the day and the early settlement history of the wider Wellington region. Set during the aftermath of the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

and the early provincial era, Beetham's portrait paintings featured the eminent movers of the day, such as the son of

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Britis ...

and

William Mein Smith William Mein Smith (also known as Kapene Mete; 1798 – 3 January 1869) was a key figure in the settlement of Wellington, New Zealand. As the Surveyor General for Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company at Port Nichols ...

the Surveyor General of the New Zealand Company. Beetham also painted the portrait of Archdeacon

Henry Williams (missionary) Henry Williams (11 February 1792 – 16 July 1867) was the leader of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) mission in New Zealand in the first half of the 19th century. Williams entered the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen and served in the Napo ...

who translated the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

for the British Crown into Te Reo

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

. Henry's son T.C. Williams was married to Beetham's daughter Anne. The controversy and implications surrounding the sale of Wellington land between the Māori and the early European settlers is captured in Beetham's nationally significant painting ''Dr. Featherston and the Maori Chiefs, Wi Tako and Te Puni (1857–58)''. This features the portraits of Dr.

Isaac Featherston Isaac Earl Featherston (21 March 1813 – 19 June 1876) was a New Zealand politician, and was known for his advocacy for the establishment of New Zealand self-government, and the importance of the provincial governments. Early life and family ...

and the Māori

Chiefs

and Honiana Te Puni (paramount chief of

Te Whanganui-a-Tara Te Whanganui-a-Tara is the Māori name for Wellington Harbour. The term is also used to refer to the city of Wellington which lies on the shores of the harbour. ''Te Whanganui-a-Tara'' translates as "the great harbour of Tara", named for Tara, a s ...

, Wellington Harbour) and is housed in the permanent collection of the

in Wellington. Beetham painted little after the late 1860s, after which he turned to poetry and to establishing a more secure future for the arts in his adopted country. In 1882 Beetham founded the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington and as chair of the Association he formed the objective to promote and encourage fine arts in New Zealand. He also served as President of the Academy. William Beetham died in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

on 3 August 1888 and is buried with his wife at the

Bolton Street Memorial Park Bolton Street Memorial Park, formerly known as Bolton Street Cemetery, is the oldest cemetery in Wellington, New Zealand. Dating back to 1840, many notable people are buried here. Situated in the suburb of Thorndon, the Wellington City Council's ...

in Wellington, NZ. The first major survey of Beetham’s work was presented by the Wairarapa Arts Centre in 1973 and curated by Guy Ramsden. It was to be another 40 years before the most significant exhibition of Beetham's work to date was commissioned and titled ''Te Rū Movers & Shakers; Early New Zealand Portraits by William Beetham''. This was curated by NZ art historian Jane Vial and exhibited at the

New Zealand Portrait Gallery The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata is an art gallery located in Wellington, New Zealand, in the Waterfront Shed 11 building. History The gallery was registered as a charitable trust in 1990. In 2005 the board hired its first ...

in the capital city of Wellington in 2013 followed by a smaller spin-off exhibition titled ''Close to Home – William Beetham Portraits'' at Aratoi - Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in Masterton in 2014. The Te Rū exhibition included items from both private and public collections and showcased notable portraits of Chief Wi Tako and of his daughter, which had not previously been seen publicly.

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with around 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in Wellington and arou ...

gifted the Te Rū piece of the exhibition title.

Personal

William Beetham married Mary Horsley at St Georges Parish Church, Doncaster on 25 June 1835. They had ten children together and thirty-two grandchildren. They lived firstly in Hexthorpe near Doncaster before moving to Prospect Street, Horncastle, Lincolnshire and then onto Frimley Hill, Ash Vale, Surrey. From there they emigrated with their family to New Zealand, settling at Te Mako at Taita in the Hutt Valley, Wellington district. William sold the Te Mako property in 1885 and it was later destroyed by fire in 1929. They moved to their final residency in

where Beetham died on 3 August 1888. His funeral attended by the

Governor-General of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the viceregal representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and li ...

. After Beetham's death his wife Mary moved to the home of their daughter Annie and her husband Thomas Coldham Williams at Hobson Street, Wellington. William and Mary are both buried at the

, Wellington, NZ. Plot 6801 on Trustees Crescent. William Beetham was father to 10 children. Those with national recognition in NZ were

Richmond Beetham Richmond Beetham (1832–1912) was a British-born painter and magistrate. He spent most of his life living in New Zealand. Early life Richmond Beetham was born in 1832 in Horncastle, England. He was the eldest son of Mary Beetham (née Brosley ...

a NZ artist and senior Magistrate of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, William Henry Beetham a NZ wine pioneer who together with his French wife Marie Zelie Hermance Frere Beetham planted the first pinot noir grapes in NZ in 1888 at their Lansdowne vineyard in

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

, The wine was tasted by

Romeo Bragato Alessandro Romeo Bragato (1859–1913) played a significant role in the development of the wine industry in Australia and New Zealand. Early life and career Romeo Bragato was born fourth in a family of ten children to Giuseppe and Paolina Bra ...

the famous viticulturist who considered it exceptional.

George Beetham George Beetham, F.R.G.S., M.H.R. (1840 – 20 August 1915), known to Māori as Hori Pitama, was a New Zealand politician and alpinist. Beetham was born in 1840 in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England. His father was the noted portrait painte ...

a NZ politician and alpinist who was one of the first

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

to discover the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu. His daughter Mary–Margaret Beetham married James Nelson Williams, a notable orchardist and entrepreneur of the early New Zealand colony and the son of William Williams. His daughter Susannah Beetham married the farmer and politician

Cecil Fitzroy Cecil Augustus Fitzroy (10 January 1844 – 13 November 1917) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury region of New Zealand, and later Mayor of Hastings, New Zealand, Mayor of Hastings. Early life ...

in 1878. William Beetham was grandfather to 32 children. Those with national recognition in NZ were Thyra Talvase Bethell MBE a NZ Red Cross organiser.

Maude Burge Maude Burge (née Williams, 18 May 1865 – 20 May 1957) was a New Zealand painter influenced by James Nairn. She spent time as an expatriate artist specifically in Europe. Burge was a painting companion of Frances Hodgkins who called Maude Bu ...

(b. 1865) a NZ artist who trained under

C.F. Goldie Charles Frederick Goldie (20 October 187011 July 1947) was a New Zealand artist, best known for his portrayal of Māori people, Māori dignitaries. Early life Goldie was born in Auckland on 20 October 1870. He was named after his maternal gran ...

and became a painting companion of fellow New Zealand artist

Frances Hodgkins Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape and still life, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. She was born and raised in New Zealand, but spent most of her working l ...

. Heathcote Beetham Williams who held a law degree from Cambridge University and established

Eastwoodhill Arboretum Eastwoodhill is the national arboretum of New Zealand. It covers and is located 35 km northwest of Gisborne, in the hill country of Ngatapa. It was founded in 1910 by William Douglas Cook. Cook's life work would become the creation of a g ...

as a charitable trust: the National

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

of New Zealand, as well as funding the H.B. Williams memorial library in Gisborne, New Zealand.

Books and publications

*Exhibition Catalogue – An exhibition of oils, watercolours, pastels, miniatures and sketches by William Beetham, Wairarapa Arts Centre. 1973 *They Came To Wydrop – by David Yerex. 1991. Hardback. *Colonial Constructs: European Images of the Maori, 1840–1914 – by Leonard Bell. 1992. Ebook 2013 *Reading On The Farm – by

Lydia Wevers Lydia Joyce Wevers (19 March 1950 – 4 September 2021) was a New Zealand literary historian, literary critic, editor, and book reviewer. She was an academic at Victoria University of Wellington for many years, including acting as director of t ...

, a history of the Brancepeth Library. 2011. Paperback. *In The Boar's Path: Brancepeth A journey to the heart of a pastoral kingdom – by Gareth Winter & Alex Hedley. 2012. Hardback. *Exhibition Catalogue – Te Rū Movers & Shakers: Early New Zealand Portraits by William Beetham. 2013. .

Exhibitions

*An exhibition of oils, watercolours, pastels, miniatures and sketches by William Beetham. Wairarapa Arts Centre – 1973. Curated by Guy Ramsden *Te Rū Movers and Shakers – Early New Zealand portraits by William Beetham – New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, 2013. Curated by Jane Vial. *Close To Home – William Beetham Portraits – Aratoi Museum, Masterton, New Zealand. 2014

References

External links

Art UK Corporation, United Kingdom – William Beetham paintings

NZ National Portrait Gallery – William Beetham exhibition

Aratoi - William Beetham exhibition

William Beetham painting of Nathaniel Bond Family

Heritage NZ, Brancepeth Station

William Beetham – Masterton Archive

William Beetham – Guardian of Nuku-Tewhatewha

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beetham, William 1809 births 1888 deaths English portrait painters 19th-century New Zealand painters 19th-century New Zealand male artists