Eugene von Guerard and the geognostic landscape of New Zealand

Abstract

Pullin looks closely at the work produced by Eugene von Guerard during his visit to New Zealand to 1876, and the linegage his drawings and paintings produced during this time owe to his lifetime study of geological form: "Milford Sound (1877-79, Eugene von Guerard) and Lake Wakatipu (1876, Eugene von Guerard) represent the culmination of the powerful formative experiences of his youth and training, when the significance of the new science of geology for landscape painting was impressed upon him. In these canvases von Guerard's commitment to a scientific approach to landscape painting, an approach that both Humbolt and Carus had championed as the direction for landscape painting of the future, was fully realised".