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Wounded at Cassino by Peter McIntyre

This painting by Peter McIntyre, New Zealand's official war artist in the Mediterranean during the Second World War, depicts a scene during the Battle of Cassino, part of the Italian Campaign. McIntyre was attached to the 2nd New Zealand Division during the war, and his work helped define the New Zealand soldier's experience in Crete, North Africa and Italy.

The muted colours in McIntyre's painting convey a sombre tone. This perhaps also conveys the disappointment felt amongst members of the Division that the offensive's objectives were not met. The most detailed section of the painting, and the viewer's natural point of attention, are the two New Zealand soldiers. One is helping his wounded comrade navigate the network of rubble that characterised the town of Cassino following its destruction by aerial and artillery bombardment in March 1944.

Discover more works from the official war art collection on Archives New Zealand's War Art Online site.

Credit:

National Collection of War Art, Archives New Zealand
Reference: AAAC 898 NCWA 309
Artist: Peter McIntyre
Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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Bombing of Cassino painting

Bombing of Cassino Monastery and town by Peter McIntyre, New Zealand's official war artist in the Mediterranean during the Second World War, depicts a scene during the Battle of Cassino, part of the Italian Campaign. McIntyre was attached to the 2nd New Zealand Division during the war, and his work helped define the New Zealand soldier's experience in Crete, North Africa and Italy.

From mid January 1944, the New Zealand Corps readied itself for an attack on Cassino – a strong point on the Germans' defensive Gustav Line, and a major obstacle on the route to Rome. Worried that the Benedictine monastery on the hill above Cassino would be used as a lookout by the Germans, the Corps' commander Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg ordered its destruction. On the morning of 15 February 1944, 255 aircraft dropped a total of 576 tons of high explosive on or near the monastery.

Painted in May 1944, months after the event, the perspective of McIntyre's painting gives a sense of the magnitude of the bombings. The monastery is positioned on the top of the hill, obscured by black smoke. In the centre of the painting is Castle Hill. Below them are the ruins of the town of Cassino, shattered by weeks of artillery bombardment. One month later, on 15 March, the town itself was destroyed by another major aerial bombardment.

Discover more works from the official war art collection on Archives New Zealand's War Art Online site.

Credit:

National Collection of War Art, Archives New Zealand
Reference: AAAC 898 NCWA 13
Artist: Peter McIntyre
Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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Maheno sailing from Wellington painting

Walter Armiger Bowring’s atmospheric depiction of the hospital ship Maheno sailing from Wellington en route to Gallipoli in 1915.

Credit:

National Collection of War Art, Archives New Zealand
Reference: AAAC 898 NCWA Q387
Artist: Walter Armiger Bowring
Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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Rita Angus

As a pioneer of modern painting in New Zealand, Henrietta Catherine Angus, better known as Rita Angus, evolved a distinctive and highly personal art. Angus – an austere, disciplined and often exacting woman – was sustained by her belief in her vocation. From the 1960s she was recognised as one of the leading figures in 20th-century New Zealand art.

Rita Angus was born in Hastings in 1908 and spent her childhood between Napier and Palmerston North. In 1927 she began a diploma in fine arts at Canterbury College School of Art, where she received a sound traditional training in life drawing, still life and landscape painting. Touring exhibitions of East Asian art were a source of stimulus, encouraging her growing interest in Far Eastern religion and artistic styles.

Angus married a fellow artist in 1930, but separated four years later and spent most of the rest of her life living alone. During the 1930s and 1940s she had various short-term jobs to eke out a living, and began exhibiting with the Canterbury Society of Arts. Having her painting Cass exhibited in the National Centennial Exhibition of New Zealand Art in 1940 signalled the beginning of critical recognition for her work.

However, widespread critical acclaim came relatively late. Interest in her work grew steadily from the late 1950s, due in part to her inclusion in national touring exhibitions organised by the Auckland City Art Gallery. Angus continued painting until shortly before her death in 1970, after which her reputation continued to grow. The National Art Gallery’s major exhibition of her work in 1982–83 confirmed Rita Angus’s status as one of the outstanding artists of her generation.

By Jill Trevelyan; adapted by Matthew Tonks

Read full biography of Rita Angus (DNZB)

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George French Angas

This portrait of artist George French Angas is thought to have been painted in 1844, the year he visited New Zealand.

Read George French Angas’ biography

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: G-617
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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Augustus Earle

Augustus Earle was probably the first English freelance painter to travel the world. He was the first European artist to establish himself for a time in New Zealand and make a prolonged study of part of the country and a number of its people.

Earle was born in London in 1793. He may have been taught painting by the president of the Royal Academy, Benjamin West, whose studio was in Newman St near Earle’s childhood home. Classical, genre and historical paintings by Earle were hung in six Royal Academy exhibitions between 1806 and 1814, a rare honour for a teenager.

In 1815 Earle began his life’s work as an itinerant artist. He painted in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and North and South America before arriving in Australia in 1825. For two years Earle lived a fashionable but busy life in Sydney, opening a gallery, giving lessons in painting and selling drawing materials.

Earle wanted to know more about the Māori, some of whom he had met in Sydney. In October 1827 he sailed on the Governor Macquarie to New Zealand, where he spent eight months in Hokianga and the Bay of Islands. No native race he had studied on his travels could compare with the New Zealanders, that ‘splendid race of men’ with ‘a natural elegance and ease of manner’. Earle painted dozens of accurate representations of Māori customs, occasions and domestic scenes. He left Northland in May 1828 to continue his travels. Back in London in the 1830s, he exhibited and published his New Zealand paintings and other works.

By Anthony Murray-Oliver; adapted by Matthew Tonks

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Taupō pā, Plimmerton

Te Rauparaha's Taupō pā as painted by George Angas in 1844. The pā was behind the beach between where the present-day Plimmerton fire station and the pavilion are located.

As Governor George Grey tightened the screws on Ngāti Toa, Te Rauparaha was captured here soon after dawn on 23 July 1846 by a naval party from HMS Calliope. Held prisoner for two years, on the Calliope and then in Auckland, he died not long after being returned to his people at Ōtaki.

A pou (carved post) commemorating Te Rauparaha’s capture stands outside 5 Motuhara Road, Plimmerton.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: PUBL-0014-48
Artist: Angas, George French, 1822-1886
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

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Maraenuku pā

Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810-1865 : Makaenuku Pa; natives preparing to leave the Hutt. (1845)

Maraenuku pā was in the vicinity of the electricity substation on Connolly Street, Lower Hutt. No trace of it remains. It was built in 1842 by Taringa Kuri (Te Kāeaea) to assert the Ngāti Tama iwi’s claim to the land. For its part, the New Zealand Company claimed to have purchased the land from Te Ātiawa. The pā was destroyed by British troops on 27 February 1846 on the instructions of Governor Grey, who had just ordered the occupation of the disputed land.

Ngāti Tama and their Ngāti Toa allies retaliated with non-violent but destructive raids on Hutt Valley farms. Several hundred destitute settlers took refuge in Wellington. In the next few weeks an advanced party of troops was fired on, and a settler and his young son were killed while working contested land east of the Hutt River. (Their graves are in Bolton Street Cemetery.)

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: A-179-013
Painter: Samuel Charles Brees
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of these images.

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Painting of James Crichton VC

Private James Crichton VC, painted by Francis McCracken in 1920-21. James Crichton was awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) for 'conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty' during the crossing of the Scheldt River near Crèvecoeur on 30 September 1918.

Read more about James Crichton (Auckland Museum Cenotaph)

About the artist

Born in Northern Ireland, Francis McCracken (1879–1959) grew up on a cattle station in Australia before moving to New Zealand. After studying at Elam School of Art in Auckland, he served with the NZEF during the First World War, losing a leg at Ypres. Invalided out of the military, McCracken renewed his art studies in Edinburgh. He returned to New Zealand briefly in 1920 as part of an exhibition tour with war artists Robert Johnson and John Weeks. James Crichton was one of two New Zealand VC winners whom he was commissioned to paint following the First World War. The other was Reginald Judson.

Credit:

National Collection of War Art, Archives New Zealand
Reference: AAAC 898 NCWA 528
Artist: Francis McCracken
Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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New Zealand's first railway, Christchurch, 1863

This painting shows the Canterbury provincial railway’s locomotive Pilgrim during its historic first journey at Ferrymead in December 1863. Painted by the renowned rail artist W.W. Stewart, it captures something of the excitement and novelty of early rail experiments.

Credit:

Grantham House Publishing Ltd
Artwork by W. W. Stewart

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

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