Ambrotype portrait of George West posing with a stock whip. Australia, late 1850s.

Ninth plate ambrotype photograph with applied colour, 53 x 40 mm (sight); housed in a brass mat with ormolu preserver, in a simple leather case with geometric design to front, which has a working clasp; the ambrotype is in fine condition; the original blue paper backing sheet bears a fully contemporary inscription in ink identifying the sitter as ‘George West’.

A full-length portrait of George West, dressed in typical squatter’s attire (cravat, frock coat, buttoned riding breeches) and posing with his stock whip, which he holds aloft in his left hand. The photograph was taken in an unidentified Australian studio that features a plain rendered wall with skirting board, and a patterned carpet.

Provenance: Joyce Evans Collection, Melbourne