''The Kongouro from New Holland'' is an oil painting by

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds, Reynold ...

. Depicting a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

, it is the first painting of an Australian animal in

Western Art The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleo ...

, along with a painting of a dingo—'' Portrait of a Large Dog''—also by George Stubbs. It is part of the collection of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

Greenwich, London Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. The work was commissioned by Joseph Banks and based on the inflated skin of an animal he had collected from the east coast of Australia in 1770 during Lieutenant James Cook's first voyage of discovery. It also seems to be based on

Sydney Parkinson Sydney Parkinson (c. 1745 – 26 January 1771) was a Scottish botanical illustrator and natural history artist. He was the first European artist to visit Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Parkinson was the first Quaker to visit New Zealand. ...

's drawing of a kangaroo; Parkinson was Joseph Banks's botanical illustrator on the first voyage of James Cook. It depicts the animal sitting on a rock and looking over its shoulder with a backdrop of trees and mountains. The two were the only two paintings that Stubbs did not draw from a live subject. It was first exhibited by the Society of Artists in London in 1773 together with his painting of the dingo, '' Portrait of a Large Dog''. Subsequent exhibitions were held at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

in Liverpool in 1951 and the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the ...

in 1957. The painting has also been on view in recent years at Parham House in Sussex during public openings. In 2012, ''The Kongouro from New Holland'' and ''Portrait of a Large Dog'' were purchased together at auction for 9.3 million Australian dollars by an undisclosed buyer. An application to take them to Australia was refused by the Department of Culture on the grounds of their national importance.

Sir David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

, who had led a campaign to keep both portraits in Britain, remarked that it was "exciting news that these two pictures, so important in the history of zoological discovery, are to remain where they were commissioned and painted". The

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

had expressed a strong desire to purchase the portraits. In November 2013 it was announced that a £1.5million donation from the

Eyal Ofer Eyal Ofer (born 1950) is an Israeli billionaire real estate and shipping magnate, and a philanthropist. He is the chairman of Ofer Global, Zodiac Group and Global Holdings. Biography Eyal Ofer was born in 1950 in Haifa, Israel.Karmin, CraigDevel ...

Family Foundation will enable the

in Greenwich, London to acquire the two paintings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kongouro from New Holland, The 1772 paintings Australian paintings Paintings by George Stubbs Mammals in art