painter, was born in Khorol (Ukraine), son of a merchant. After training at the Russian Academy of Arts he won several gold medals at exhibitions from 1799 to 1880. He was on board the Russian naval sloop Otkrytie (Discovery) when it arrived in Sydney Harbour on 2 March 1820. Having gained permission from Governor Macquarie, Korneyev, together with the botanists Dr Stein and Alan Cunningham, made a trip to the Blue Mountains. Cunningham noted in his journal that on 9 March the party camped on the King’s Tableland near the cliffs of the Regent’s Glen, and Mr Korneyev made sketches, 'particularly of a cascade or cataract originally discovered by Lt. Lawson’. Korneyev also sketched a wide variety of flora and 'romantic spots’. The Otkrytie left Sydney on 26 March 1820.
During the three weeks of their stay Korneyev sketched Sydney and its more immediate environs. The drawings from the entire voyage, by the artist’s own account, numbered over 300 and, according to a diary kept by Captain Gleb Shishmarev, Korneyev intended publishing an art album on his return to Russia. The Naval Ministry, however, insisted that the illustrations should accompany the official description of the expedition by Vasilyev, commander of the expedition and captain of the Otkrytie , so 171 drawings were submitted to naval headquarters in 1830—where they disappeared. The expedition was considered by the navy to be an expensive failure and no government assistance was recommended to publish accounts of it.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
