"Homestead, Banks Peninsula"

Probably associated with the French settlement in Akaroa, based on the architecture.

Original watercolour 240 x 340mm. All new conservation matting and gold frame 450 x 530mm. Clearly signed in watercolour M O Stoddart bottom left.

Born in Diamond Harbour, Canterbury, New Zealand, the daughter of Anna Barbara Schjött and her husband, Mark Pringle Stoddart. Margaret came from a prosperous and cultured family. Her father was an admiral's son from Edinburgh, and was fond of drawing, poetry and reading. Mark Stoddart had arrived in NZ in 1851. Abandoning station life, he had shifted to Diamond Harbour, earlier named by him.

In 1876 she was taken to visit relatives in Edinburgh. After returning to NZ she enrolled at the Canterbury College School of Art in 1882, and was a full certificate in 1889. Before long she had established a reputation as one of the country's foremost flower painters, and in 1885 was elected to the council of the CSA. In 1890, 12 of her botanical paintings were acquired by the Canterbury Museum.

In 1897 Stoddart left for Europe following the popular sketching routes. While staying at St Ives in Cornwall, the centre for English impressionism she broadened into landscapes. In Paris she showed at the Salon of the Société des artistes français and the Société nationale des beaux-arts. At an exhibition in 1902 at the Baillie Gallery, London. In 1906, she exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and with the Society of Women Artists.

On her return to NZ Stoddart She was a member of the School of Art Sketch Club, the National Art Association of NZ and the Canterbury Women's Club.

Exhibited at the Salon in Paris between 1909 and 1914, and was a regular exhibitor with NZ art societies.

Margaret never married. She died at Hanmer in 1934. Over the years she won respect of both fellow artists and younger Rita Angus, Olivia Spencer Bower and Toss Woollaston.

Available in our new gallery at 101 Main Road Redcliffs and may be withdrawn.