The Kongouro from New Holland [SEP] creator
The Kongouro from New Holland
The Kongouro from New Holland is an oil painting by George Stubbs. Depicting a kangaroo, it is the first depiction of an Australian animal in Western Art, along with a painting of a dingo—"Portrait of a Large Dog"—also by George Stubbs. It is part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. The work was commissioned by Joseph Banks and based on the inflated skin of an animal he had collected from the east coast of Australia in 1770 during Lieutenant James Cook's first
his painting of a kangaroo, "The Kongouro from New Holland". The painting had been on view in recent years at Parham House in West Sussex during public openings.
In 2012, "Portrait of a Large Dog" and "The Kongouro from New Holland" were purchased together at auction for 9.3 million Australian dollars by an undisclosed buyer. An application to take them to Australia was refused by the Department of Culture on the grounds of their national importance. Sir David Attenborough, who had led a campaign to keep