Cape Otway was discovered in 1800 by Lieutenant James Grant who was the first European to sail through Bass Stait from the West in the surveying ship H.M.S. LADY NELSON. The view is taken from a little to the east of the lighthouse and the small settlement established in 1848. The lighthouse marks the western entrance to Bass Strait. The artist, Nicholas Chevalier was the son of a Swiss father and Russian mother, brought-up in Russia, he joined his father in Melbourne in 1854 and became a journeyman artist in the Melbourne printing industry and pursued a fine art career as a painter and lithographer. He was a highly regarded artist and joined the team of artists preparing the illustrations for Edwin Carton Booth's "Australia Illustrated". He was on board H.M.S.GALATEA along with Oswald Brierly and returned to England in 1869.
1874
Steel engraving.
Later hand-colour.
125 x 180mm. Image size.
Good condition.