Portrait of John Danforth Greenwood
Sarah Greenwood, Portrait of my dear husband John Danforth Greenwood, December 1852., Pencil & watercolour 150 x 140 mm, Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference: A-252-021
Portrait of John Danforth Greenwood
Sarah Greenwood arrived in New Zealand with her physician husband Dr John Danforth Greenwood and their children in February 1843. The Greenwoods settled in the Nelson district, and over the next 46 years Sarah Greenwood reared and educated her large family, sold butter and cheese from her dairy, and founded a school for girls, where she taught French, Italian, music, painting and drawing.
In 1852 Sarah Greenwood completed watercolour portraits of her family to send to her mother in England, writing short notes on the paintings indicating how well she felt she had captured her subjects. On this portrait of her husband she wrote: 'For my dearest Mother. S. G. Neighbours and Friends all exclaim "Oh that's the Doctor exactly"! Family Verdict "Mama's best"!'.
A number of Sarah Greenwood’s paintings and sketches, including this set of family portraits, are held in the Alexander Turnbull Library’s Drawings, Paintings & Prints collection. The Turnbull Library’s Manuscripts Collection also holds the Greenwood Family papers, including letters written by Sarah Greenwood between 1841-1880.
More about Sarah Greenwood – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website
Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.
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