John Alexander Gilfillan Britain, New Zealand, Australia, 1793-1864
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by John Alexander Gilfillan
Auction Houses
About John Alexander Gilfillan
Born in Jersey in 1793, Gilfillan was for ten years professor of painting at Anderson University, Glasgow. In 1840 he emigrated to New Zealand, but came to Sydney in 1848 after his wife and three of his children were killed in a Maori insurrection. He moved to Australia with his surviving children and initially settled in Sydney, where he completed the painting Interior of Putiki Pah, which was hung in the New Zealand Court at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. He moved to Adelaide in 1851 and then went to the Victorian goldfields in 1853, and some of his goldfields sketches were published in the Illustrated London News. In 1856 he moved to Melbourne, working for the Customs Department, before retiring in 1861.
We have records of art auction sales by John Gilfillan from 1976 and in total 26 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 16 (62%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $24,686 for Putiki Pa, Wanganui sold by Webb's in March 1995. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by John Gilfillan are held by the Auckland Art Gallery and National Gallery of Australia.
John Alexander Gilfillan is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 460
- Kerr, Joan. Dictionary of Australian Artists, Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870. Oxford University Press, Australia, 1993. Page 293
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 314
- Gil Docking, with additions by Michael Gunn covering 1970-90. Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, David Bateman Ltd., New Zealand, 1990 Page 36
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 95
- The Find New Zealand Artists web site: a database of artist names that directs researchers to the rich resources found in New Zealand's libraries, art society exhibition histories and published sources.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
No, ineligible. The artist has been deceased for more than 70 years.
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