Rare pictures come home for $300,000

TWO rare historic portraits of Tasmanian Aborigines created before European settlement are being purchased by the Tasmanian Government for more than $300,000.

The artworks were recently unearthed from a private French collection and were auctioned this week.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said two sketches from the collection were being bought by Libraries Tasmania to hang in the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts collection.

The portraits are being bought with funds from the Allport Bequests Fund.

The art was created during French explorer Nicolas Baudin’s voyage of discovery to the “southern lands” in 1800-1804.

The collection comprises 13 works, including four 1802 portraits by Nicolas-Martin Petit of Tasmanian Aborigines.

Mr Rockliff said the art had been heralded as “some of the most sensitive and important depictions of Tasmanian Aboriginal people from this time”.

“The portraits are of immense cultural significance and Libraries Tasmania is thrilled to be able to bring the portraits back to Tasmania, where they can be safely housed, digitised and accessed by the public,” he said.

The artworks were auctioned in Melbourne on Wednesday, and the two sketches are in the process of being purchased by the Tasmanian Government. The acquisition sold for $305,000.

The sketches consist of two portraits of Tasmanian men drawn in 1802 when Baudin’s expedition was in the vicinity of Bruny Island, the D’Entrecasteaux Channel and Maria Island.

Mr Rockliff said Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts chairman Tim Bugg, the management committee and Allport curator Caitlin Sutton were to be “commended for acquiring these significant works”.

The Melbourne auction included three other portraits of pre-settlement Tasmanian Aborigines.

A portrait of an indigenous Tasmanian sitting with legs outstretched sold to an unknown buyer for $829,600.

A close-up profile of an Aborigine wearing fur around his head sold to an unknown buyer for $707,600.

However, a vivid portrait of an indigenous Tasmanian woman looking directly out from the painting was not sold.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who had urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to step in to secure the “treasures” for the state, was thrilled with the state’s purchase.

“There is no doubt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring these unique items back to where they belong — in Tasmania as part of Tasmania’s history,” he said.