Break of Day Plains, Tasmania. Skinner Prout engraving c1874.

by Prout, John Skinner

Skinner Prout antique print. Break of Day Plains. This is still a beautiful region of Tasmania - near Cullensood in north-east Tasmania, about 160km north-northeast of Hobart.

Fine steel engraving by Arthur Willmore (1814-1888), after a drawing by prominent English landscape artist and engraver John Skinner Prout (1805-1876) for Edwin Carton Booth’s Australia Illustrated published in London circa 1874 by Virtue and Company. 

Skinner Prout was born in Plymouth, England, and in 1840, arrived in Sydney with his wife and seven children. He brought a complete lithographic printing press with him, and in early 1841 he started producing lithographed versions of his drawings of Sydney. In January 1844 Prout moved to Hobart and commenced drawing Hobart and its environs for a series of lithographs. He went on many sketching trips throughout New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, and often accompanied sketching clubs that he helped to organize. Prout and his family returned to England in April 1848.

This engraving is in good condition with wide margins as published and later hand-colour. Page size is 215 x 270mm (8 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches). Engraving size is 125 x 180mm (approximately 5 x 7 inches).