Self-Conscious Posturing

This is a Polish engraving of a tui.

I was researching Russian adventurers in New Zealand for a book review of Dostoevsky and came across this rather lovely picture. This was before I realised that I had confused 'Russian Adventurers' with 'Prussian Adventurers' and that Baron von Tempsky wasn't Russian at all, and was thus not particularly useful for my needs.

Luckily, I found that there had been a Russian-born artist that had been in New Zealand about the same time as von Tempsky (a lucky escape, that).

His name is Nicholas Chevalier and I think he cuts a particularly dashing figure, drawing in a photographer's-studio-stylised-living-room (or parlour, as Andy likes to say). His wife was called Caroline, and was related to the Scottish artist David Wilkie. Apparently she was the first woman to undertake some major journeys up and down New Zealand.

So much learning for a Monday afternoon! It's almost like being at school...