[Milford Sound]

The Melbourne newspaper Table Talk noted on 6 March 1891 that James Peele had just returned from his annual sketching trip to New Zealand, reporting that ‘Commission on commission had fallen to this artist for the scenery of the West Coast Sounds, and did he feel so inclined he could keep on painting pictures of Milford Sound from one year’s end to the other.’

Peele’s painting of Milford Sound records the most famous view which still appears regularly in New Zealand’s tourism advertising. It features Mitre Peak on the left and The Lion on the right with the snow-capped peak of Mt Pembroke beyond. The steamer that brought Peele from Melbourne is at anchor in the midground, while two figures row a dinghy away from the settlement on the shore.

Depicting the scene at dusk, with a sickle moon in the sky, Peele emphasises the romantic qualities of the landscape so well-known for its dramatic atmospheric effects. What appears to be a highly-finished academic landscape, on close observation is surprisingly painterly – the snow capped-peak, the light filled sky and its reflection are particularly worthy of note. Working on a gestural ground, the dusky light has allowed Peele to explore non-local colour, that a conventional academic artist such as he otherwise avoided, to pleasurable effect. The rose-tinted light silhouettes the distinctive landforms capturing the quiet calm of the golden hour.

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