sketcher, was born on 28 April 1848, one of the eight sons of Dr Edward Samuel Pickard Bedford, a successful medical practitioner in Hobart Town, and Mary, née Selby. A watercolour donated to the Mitchell Library by Ruth Bedford and attributed to her father, Mount Olympus—in the Interior of Tasmania , is annotated 'from a sketch by Mr. Gould’ but this is the only hint of a connection with the painter W.B. Gould and nothing is known of any early art training. In 1863 Bedford moved to Sydney with his parents and siblings. As 'Alfred Bedford’, he was listed as a portrait painter of Parramatta Road, Camperdown, in Sands Sydney Directory for 1867. On 26 August 1876, in St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, he married his cousin Agnes Victoria, the 17th child of Sir Alfred Stephen, chief justice of New South Wales, and eighth child of his second wife Eleanor Martha Pickard, née Bedford. They had three daughters.
Most of the 12 works by Bedford in the Mitchell Library are unsigned and undated; a few carry the initials 'A.P.B.’ and the watercolour War Canoe Whakatane Tauranga is dated 1865. All have good family provenance. As well as New Zealand scenes, the subjects include figure studies ( Two Children , crayon) and watercolour and pencil views of Sydney and Hobart. All apparently date from before his marriage, the only time he seems to have worked as a professional painter.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
