Thursday, February 2, 2017

C.L. Daly rediscovered

One wonders how many paintings there might be in galleries around the world that have been attributed to men and were actually done by women. In an earlier blog, I explored the story of Lady Butler who remains famous for her military paintings but whose later work is largely forgotten. 

The Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, has opened an exhibition of watercolours by Caroline Louisa Daly that were wrongly attributed for years to men who, it has turned out after investigation by the Centre's curator, had either never visited Prince Edward Island or weren't artists. It was only after an English descendant of Caroline's pointed out the error that the paintings were investigated and the correct attribution applied. See The Toronto Star, also The Guardian. 


Caroline Louisa
Image from public family tree on Ancestry

Caroline's father was Sir Dominick Daly, one-time Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia. Daly Waters was named after him by explorer John McDouall Stuart (now famed for its outback pub and Australia's most remote traffic light.)

Caroline was married in Adelaide in 1866 to Henry Hobhouse Turton. His journal as a 15 year old sailing out to Australia has been posted by a descendant to The Ship's List, read here.

As Caroline lived in Australia for quite a number of years, there are bound to be some of her historically valuable paintings around but from a brief initial search, the one below is the only accessible painting by "C.L. Daly" from official Australian collections, but there may be more in other galleries or in private hands. 

C.L. Daly, Government Cottage, Glenelg
 (State Library of South Australia)