watercolourist, was born in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), second of the seven children of Ann and William Thomas Lyttleton and sister of Thomas and Westcote Lyttleton . She came to Van Diemen’s Land with her parents when they returned in October 1825. On 26 February 1833 she married Rev. Rowland Robert Davies (1805-80) and went to live at Pinefield, a house erected by her father near the family estate of Hagley which had been purchased by the government in 1830 as the Longford parsonage. Ill, she and her husband went to England to seek medical advice in January 1840, returning to Van Diemen’s Land in July 1841. They moved to Hobart Town in 1850 when her husband was appointed dean of St David’s Cathedral and, later, archdeacon of Hobart Town.
A competent but conventional blue and grey wash of a mountain landscape (Anglican Diocesan Registry, Hobart) is accompanied by an extract from a catalogue which identifies it as an exhibition piece: 'Mt Wellington from Brighton (not for sale)’. The location has been corrected to Brooksby (Pontville, Tasmania) and the inscription on the back of the watercolour has also been emended. Originally inscribed 'By Captain Littleton [sic]’, this has been crossed out and 'by Maria Davies née Lyttleton’ added below. Although stylistically similar to her father’s views, the subject lacks the life and atmosphere he was able to impart. A small, undated watercolour and pencil view in the same collection, also attributed to Maria, is more attractive and personal, being a view of her own church, St Augustine’s Church of England, Longford.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
