Painter John Bains

Click any photo to see it enlarged, and step through the rest.

front

info card_2

Cachet: The cachet shows a sepia toned photographic portrait of Thomas Baines himself, a bearded man in Victorian dress gazing slightly off camera. The portrait fills the left half of the envelope and fades into the cream background on the right where the stamps sit. A circular postmark above the stamps depicts a three masted sailing ship, a nod to the voyages Baines undertook throughout his career as an explorer and war artist. Together the portrait and the ship illustration frame him as both artist and adventurer.

Info card

JOHN THOMAS BAINES (1820-1875) John Thomas Baines, the most prolific South African painter of the 19th century, was born in 1820 at King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, the son of a master mariner. After completing his apprenticeship in ornamental painting he sailed for the Cape, arriving there on 24 November 1842. In Cape Town he worked at his trade until 1846 when he decided to become a professional artist. Baines painted in Cape Town until 1848 and then went, via Algoa Bay, to Grahamstown which became his headquarters until 1853. During this period he journeyed to the Orange River with a companion, made solitary journeys into the interior, accompanied a party to the Vaal River on an expedition that lasted fourteen months, and served as war artist with a Major-General Somerset from June 1851 to January 1852. Sailing from Algoa Bay, Baines returned to England in September 1853 and two years later went to Australia as a member of an expedition to explore the Northern Territory of that country. He was once more in England from October 1857 to March 1858, after which he returned to Africa to take part in Dr Livingstone's Zambesi Expedition. He later left the party and in March 1861 accompanied another expedition through South-West Africa and to the Victoria Falls. Following his return to England, Baines once more sailed for Africa in December 1868 to lead an expedition to Matabeleland on behalf of the South African Gold Fields Exploration Company. He arrived in Durban on 14 February 1869 and from then on made this his headquarters. His two expeditions to the country of Lobengula were from March 1869 to January 1871 and May 1871 to March 1872. He died in Durban on 8 May 1875. On all his expeditions Baines continually sketched whatever he thought worth recording and he also kept detailed diaries of his journeys. The first of these was published as Journal of Residence in Africa 1842-1853; Explorations in South-West Africa is an edited and condensed edition of his journey from March 1861 to August 1862 and The Northern Goldfields Diaries of Thomas Baines covers the period April 1869 to March 1872. The Livingstone Zambezi Expedition is covered only by a manuscript in respect of the period 30 April to 17 September 1858. JOHN THOMAS BAINES (1820-1875) John Thomas Baines, die produktiefste Suid-Afrikaanse skilder van die 19e eeu, was die seun van 'n skeepskaptein en is in 1820 in King's Lynn, Norfolk, Engeland, gebore. Nadat hy sy vakleerlingskap in sierskilderwerk voltooi het, vertrek hy per skip na die Kaap en kom op 24 November 1842 daar aan. In Kaapstad het hy tot 1846 sy ambag beoefen waarna hy besluit het om beroepskilder te word. Baines het tot 1848 in Kaapstad geskilder en daarna oor Algoabaai na Grahamstown gereis wat tot 1853 sy hoofkwartier was. Gedurende hierdie tydperk het hy saam met 'n metgesel na die Oranjerivier gereis, alleen reise na die binneland onderneem, 'n ekspedisie na die Vaalrivier meegemaak wat veertien maande geduur het en van Junie 1851 tot Januarie 1852 as oorlogskilder onder 'n sekere generaal-majoor Somerset gedien. In September 1853 het Baines Algoabaai per skip verlaat en na Engeland teruggekeer. Twee jaar later het hy na Australië gegaan as lid van 'n ekspedisie om die Noorder-Territorium van daardie land te verken. Vanaf Oktober 1857 tot Maart 1858 was hy weer terug in Engeland waarna hy na Afrika teruggekeer en hom by dr. Livingstone se Zambezi-ekspedisie aangesluit het. Later onttrek hy hom aan die groep en in Maart 1861 besoek hy Suidwes-Afrika en die Victoriawaterval saam met 'n ander ekspedisie. Nadat hy na Engeland teruggekeer het, het Baines in Desember 1868 weer eens na Afrika gekom om namens die South African Gold Fields Exploration Company 'n ekspedisie na Matabeleland te lei. Op 14 Februarie 1869 het hy in Durban aangekom en dit het van toe af sy hoofkwartier geword. Sy twee ekspedisies na die land van Lobengula het van Maart 1869 tot Januarie 1871 en Mei 1871 tot Maart 1872 geduur. Hy is op 8 Mei 1875 in Durban oorlede. Op al sy ekspedisies het Baines gedurig alles geskets wat hy verewigingswaardig geag het en ook uitvoerige dagboekaantekeninge van sy reise gehou. Die eerste hiervan is as Journal of Residence in Africa 1842-1853 gepubliseer; Explorations in South-West Africa is 'n verwerkte en beknopte uitgawe van sy reis vanaf Maart 1861 tot Augustus 1862 en The Northern Goldfields Diaries of Thomas Baines dek die tydperk April 1869 tot Maart 1872. Die Zambezi-ekspedisie van Livingstone word slegs deur 'n manuskrip gedek en handel oor die tydperk 30 April tot 17 September 1858.

Additional information

This cover is postmarked on 18 June 1975 in Durban, SAPO reference PT 2.6. It commemorates the artist and explorer Thomas Baines, whose paintings are reproduced across all four stamps on the cover. Baines died in Durban exactly a century before this issue, on 8 May 1875, which makes the choice of Durban as the postmark location especially fitting since the city became his base after his Matabeleland expeditions. His sketching habit was so constant that even his diaries from the Livingstone Zambezi expedition survive today only as a manuscript rather than a published work.

You might also like

Antique Cape Furniture

1992-07-09

National Stamp Day 1993

1993-10-08

Anton van Wouw

1992-10-08