Algernon Talmage

Algernon Talmage, The Founding of Australia, 26 January 1788, by Captain Arthur Phillip R.N. at Sydney Cove. Oil sketch, 1937

Algernon Mayow Talmage (23 February 1871 – 14 September 1939) was a British Impressionist painter.

Life and education Algernon Talmage was born in Fifield, Oxfordshire, the son of Rev. John Mayow Talmage, a clergyman of Cornish stock. During his childhood, Talmage got into an accident with a gun, permanently injuring his right hand; as a result Talmage painted with his left hand and was exempt from active service in the First World War. From there he moved to St Ives, Cornwall, where he joined the St Ives School. During his time in Cornwall Talmage founded an artists' club which was greatly influenced by the Cornish coastline. Talmage's time in Cornwall was significant in establishing his characteristic mellow palette and enchanting use of light. Talmage tutored Emily Carr during her studies at St Ives when he lived and worked in his studio which was then called 'The Cabin' located on Westcotts Quay, St Ives. His criticism was a significant early influence on her work, encouraging her earliest forays into the forest paintings that would eventually become her trademark. Carr's vivid palette grew from his critical reminder that "there is sunlight in the shadows." The well-known Australian painter Will Ashton was another of his students.

In 1896, Talmage married Cornish artist Gertrude Rowe and together they had two daughters, Archie and Dorothy. In 1900 Talmage and fellow St Ives School artist Albert Julius Olsson established the Cornish School of Landscape, Figure and Sea Painting.

The painting depicts the moment Governor Phillip (in the centre of the painting) proposed a toast to King George III, on the evening of 26 January 1788, the day that the Fleet moved from Botany Bay to Sydney Cove. The painting is a celebration of righteousness and importance of colonisation, and a statement of the power of the British Empire. He was a war artist on the Western Front in France (below).