William John Swainson New Zealand, Australia, 1789-1855
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by William John Swainson
Auction Houses
About William John Swainson
William Swainson, was born in Liverpool, England in 1789. A botanist, zoologist, draftsman and painter. He worked in customs in Liverpool and spent several years overseas in both Sicily and Brazil prior to arriving in Wellington, New Zealand in 1841. He settled in the Hutt Valley and was a farmer and sketcher. Swainson drew many sketches of the early Wellington region, detailing farms, houses and his surroundings. He was a member of the NZ Royal Society, The New Zealand Company, and the Royal Society in London. He was in Australia from 1851 where he did pencil drawings in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales, documenting more than 1500 previoulsy unknown botanical specimens. He returned to new Zealand c 1853 and died in the Hutt Valley in 1854.
Our database records art auction sales of works by William Swainson from 1978 and in total 148 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 134 (91%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $5,700 for Suite of Six Drawings of Cottages in Lower Hutt New Zealand sold by Leonard Joel in April 2010. This year 21 works have been offered for sale.
William John Swainson 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 930
- Kerr, Joan. Dictionary of Australian Artists, Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870. Oxford University Press, Australia, 1993. Page 773
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 238
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- 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.
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.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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