Maurice Appleby Felton b. 1803

  • Artist (Painter)
Records are uncertain as to whether Maurice Felton practised as a surgeon after his arrival in the colony. However, it is on record that he painted a significant number of well executed and enthusiastically received portraits, as well as landscapes. His untimely death would have denied a number of his contemporaries the opportunity for one of his excellent likenesses.

painter and surgeon, was born in Hinckley, Leicestershire. He received his medical qualifications from Glasgow, but no art training is known although he obviously had some. He and his wife Amelia were married at Hinckley in 1831; they were living in Liverpool when their daughter, Louisa, was born in 1834. Myra was born the following year, then a son, Maurice, and a third daughter, Ellisara. Accompanied by Amelia and the children, Felton sailed from Liverpool to Sydney as ship’s surgeon aboard the Royal Admiral , arriving late in September 1839. On arrival he registered as a doctor, but he soon impressed the colony with his talent as a portraitist, exhibiting some paintings at Lamb’s shop in George Street in January 1840. This led to an acquaintance with Alexander Brodie Spark, a prominent Sydney patron of the arts. Spark’s diaries (Mitchell Library) mention his involvement with Felton during 1840: the artist’s visits to Spark’s rural property, Tempe, his sketching in the area, and a commission to paint a large oil portrait of the newly-wedded Mrs Spark (Art Gallery of New South Wales) followed by one of Spark himself (unlocated). Felton was also acquainted with the then most important landscape painter in the colony, Conrad Martens , and he possibly painted two unsigned oil portraits of Martens (ML). That dated 1840 seems likely to be his; the authorship of the other has been disputed ( see James Armstrong Wilson).

Felton’s portraits were mentioned on several occasions in the Sydney papers and always with enthusiasm, those of Captain Archibald Innes and Mrs Innes being thought particularly striking by a Sydney Herald reporter on 23 July 1841, except that 'the present ugly fashions’ of hair and clothing were considered injurious to the beauty of the latter.

'Another very excellent likeness is Mr. Morgan, of Pitt-street; and one of Mrs. O’Brien [ Sophia O’Brien ], daughter of E.S. Hall, Esq., drawn partly from a cast taken after her death and partly from an engraving said to resemble her [now ML]. The gem of the whole collection, however, is Her Majesty Queen Victoria in her robes of state, which with other pieces, is to be disposed of by an ART-UNION.’

The lottery, held at Felton’s Hunter Street home, was conducted with the assistance of Thomas Henry Braim, principal of the Sydney College. Tickets cost £1. Felton’s prize paintings included a second portrait of Queen Victoria, which, by way of contrast to the formal copy, presented a 'simple and domestic’ image of Her Majesty (Old Government House, Parramatta). There was also 'a Newfoundland Dog, after the celebrated Edwin Landseer, a fancy portrait (Meditation), and several views in this Colony, and one or two in North Wales’. Landscapes of Sydney, Illawarra, Wollongong and other nearby places were, in fact, by far the most numerous part of the collection on offer. Included were a waterfall at Illawarra, A Sunset View of Sydney, from the South Head Road , A Sunset View of the New Government House from the Botanical Gardens and 'some fine views of the elegant Church at Newtown’ (all unlocated). 'In conclusion’, stated the Herald , 'we would venture to assert there has never been such a large and good collection by an Australian artist exhibited before’.

Unfortunately, Felton died shortly afterwards, on 30 March 1842, from causes unrecorded. He was buried the following day in the Anglican section of the Sydney Cemetery (now the site of Sydney Town Hall). Two of his paintings were shown in the 1847 exhibition of the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Australia: Portrait of a Distinguished Member of the Humane Society after Landseer (the Newfoundland dog, then owned by George Miller) and Portrait of the Queen (after Tully) , 'The property of Mr Walker-(For sale)’. A self-portrait in fancy dress (ML) was shown in 1849. On both occasions appreciation of Felton’s prowess was reiterated in the local press.

The Mitchell Library also owns Felton’s oil portraits of Lieutenant J.J. Peters, 28th Regiment, Mr Thomas Chapman and Master Robert Cooper tertius (both 1840) and the stonemason and Goulburn publican Thomas Brodie (1841). Others remain in private collections.

Writers:
Pearce, Barry
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011