Lot 25

Hairline cracking is present on the surface, residing pridominantly on the left hand side. Cracks are well adhered to the board and fully sealed due to a layer of varnish on the surface - with evidence of restoration on selected cracks in the centre. Varnish is of glossy nature. A minor warp in the board is present showing a 1mm gap under the frame in the upper right hand corner. Work is well framed.


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The Late Dowager Countess of Harewood (formally known as Bambi Smith)
Thence by descent
Private collection, Melbourne

George Edwards Peacock, a solicitor by profession, arrived in Sydney aboard the Prince George on 8 May 1837, transported from Yorkshire for defrauding his brother.

Seeking social grace through painting, he became known for his images of Sydney harbour, which he created from c.1844-1857.

As seen in Heads of Port Jackson, NSW 1852 Peacock's oils were generally small and atmospheric, renowned for their idyllic beauty. Port Jackson was a crucial entry point for marine traffic and played a key role in the history and development of Sydney.

Given Peacocks education and professional background, he was instantly assigned to work as a meteorological recorder at the South Head weather station. It was here that he took a liking to the sea's temperaments and developing landscape surrounding the shoreline. In this painting Peacock references the harsh and rapidly changing conditions of the sea. With aggressive rocks, stormy sky and grey palette, Peacock empathises with the boatmen in their somewhat flimsy rowing boat, using nothing more than their paddles to reach land.

The Australian-born Patricia Harewood, née Tuckwell (1926-2018), was the widow of the Queen's first cousin, George Lascelles, the Seventh Earl of Harewood (1923-2011), whom she married in 1967. Born in Melbourne, she went on to study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and played in the first violins of the Sydney Symphony. In the late 1940s, she married the photographer Athol Smith (1914-1990),
and became a successful fashion model, starting a model college under her professional name, Bambi Smith. In the late 1950s she moved to England where she resided in Harewood House. It is at this property where the painting hung for more than half a century on the wall above her desk in the sitting room in the private apartments.