Georgetown, British Guyana

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

In Parrot’s lithograph of a work by Edward Angelo Goodall, the city of Georgetown, the capital of British Guyana, is depicted from a bird's eye view. In 1831, the British consolidated the Dutch colonies of Essequibo, Berbica and Demerara into a single colony known as British Guyana, which became independent in 1966 and known thereafter as Guyana. 

In 1841, Goodall was selected by the Prussian government to accompany an expedition to Guyana. He was instructed to sketch the people, landscape, plants and animal life. His sketches and watercolours were subsequently exhibited in Berlin, London and Paris. They were later donated to the Colonial Office. Goodall spent five months in Georgetown before the expedition across Guyana started, and it was likely during this time when the original work was completed. After returning from Guyana in 1844, Goodall continued to exhibit his water colours across the United Kingdom.

Edward Angelo Goodall was the son of Edward Goodall, the engraver of J.M.W. Turner’s works. He was apprenticed to his father’s office. Goodall accompanied a Prussian expedition to Guyana, serving as its artist. He was appointed war artist in Crimea for the 'Illustrated London News'.
Topographical painter, watercolourist and lithographer William Parrott was the son of a farmer from Aveley, in Essex. He was initially apprenticed to engraver John Pye but later virtually abandoned engraving in favour of watercolour painting. Parrott exhibited in London at the Royal Academy (1835-63) and also at the British Institution, Royal Society of British Artists and elsewhere. He lived briefly in Paris (1842-43) and then Rome (1844-45), and published a series of twelve lithographs titled ‘Paris et ses Environs’ (1843). In 1851 he made a tour of Germany and he also paid frequent visits to Brittany and Normandy. Parrott occasionally painted figure subjects, including a caricature of J. M. W. Turner (1840; Ruskin Museum, Oxford).

Places

South America, Guyana, Georgetown, Demerara River

Subjects

rowing boat, cart, topography, seascape/coastal scene, townscape/cityscape, Victorian Genre, horse, man, woman, soldier, harbour, chimney, ship

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, coloured lithograph

Artist

Edward Angelo Goodall (1819 - 1908)
William Parrott (1813 - 1869)

Title

Georgetown, British Guyana

Date

Medium

Coloured lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from Frederick B Daniell, April 1952

Inscription

below image: [centre, in pencil] Georgetown

GAC number

1478