Title: Australian stranded – Mouille light – Table Bay – Cape of Good Hope
Medium: Pencil, ink and watercolour heightened with white
Signed – inscribed with title and dated 1854
Unframed: 23.5cm x 35cm
Framed: 56cm x 66cm
In 1853 John Fairbairn, a good friend of Bowler, left Cape Town to Britain to champion a better form of government. After long delays and many petitions, a constitution was laid down. On paper this constitution was one of the most democratic in existence. There was no distinction between classes and creeds, between white and black (Pama 1977:59).
In the painting, Australian stranded, the figures in the foreground makes the image particularly interesting. It was painted in 1854 just after the new constitution came into existence that declared every person in Cape Town a free man not to be discriminated against because of class, creed, or colour. This would not have been a typical scene elsewhere in the world. The once Malay slave (freed in 1834) is peacefully waiting on the beach as if he is a family member or a close friend. He is not working as a labourer carrying things off the ship as the figures in the background.
Bowler was also known for the dog interacting with figures in the foreground. This dog is believed to be the artist’s own dog that accompanied him on his painting and drawing excursions (Christie’s 2020:1).
