South Island Landscape

John Barr Clarke Hoyte was a leading nineteenth-century New Zealand watercolourist. Little is known of his artistic training, but shortly after arriving in Auckland in 1860 he began working as a schoolteacher, private art teacher, and watercolourist. As he developed his artistic career he travelled extensively and became increasingly involved in the embryonic Auckland art scene. He was a foundational member of the Auckland Society of Artists in 1869-70 and exhibited regularly with them until 1876 when he relocated to the South Island, living first in Nelson, then Dunedin. He stayed there until 1879 when he relocated permanently to Sydney.

Hoyte was a prolific artist specialising in scenic views that, even in Australia, continued to be inspired by New Zealand landscapes. This painting was likely made during his time in the South Island when he explored the Otago landscapes. It is possible that the generic ‘mountain and lake’ landscape pictured in this painting may be able to be identified through comparisons with contemporaneous photographs and paintings.