The Enigmatic Mr Strange

This exhibition is now closed.

Displayed at the Queen Victoria Art Gallery at Royal Park, from 19 June to 12 November 2016.

Some of the earliest depictions of Launceston by a former convict, originally trained as a portrait and house painter in England, have been brought together at the Queen Victoria Art Gallery at Royal Park.

The exhibition contains a number of works not seen before. The exhibition features some of the most important images of Launceston and the environs from the early 1840s to the early 1860s.

These include public buildings, homesteads, churches, the Tamar River, Cataract Gorge and large views of the city. 

Artist Frederick Strange was transported from Nottingham, England to Van Diemen's Land after committing a series of burglaries in 1837. Strange was granted a leave pass for good behaviour and arrived in Launceston in 1841. He became recognised for his portraiture and landscapes, and remains known for his mysterious demeanour.

Guest Curator and Honorary Research Associate Yvonne Adkins says throughout his life of exile Frederick Strange left some of the most important early views of Launceston in oil and watercolour. Many would have been selected under the guidance of local citizens and those for whom he painted portraits.