William Beetham

Born: 1809

Death: 1888

Biography:

William Beetham was an English-born portrait painter, who painted mainly in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. He exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts London (1834–53) and painted in Hamburg, Copenhagen and at the court of the Tsar in Saint Petersburg. He emigrated to New Zealand and became a significant figure as a colonist, pastoralist and portrait artist. He had a society clientele and received commissions to paint portraits of aristocrats and national leaders, including important Māori Rangatira chiefs. Beetham's paintings are in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington. He was a founder and Chair of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in 1882. Mezzotint prints of Beetham's drawings are in the permanent collection of the Science Museum, London Beetham's paintings and drawings have sold at Bonhams auction house.
William Beetham R.A. was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England and started his career painting scenes of his home town. His grandfather Joshua Beetham Sr established 'Beetham Wine and Spirits' merchants which lasted for five generations. William established his reputation as a society portraitist, firstly in England by painting portraits (oil on canvas) of noble dignitary such as the Reverend Nathaniel Bond and the former Prime Minister F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich (1843). He exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy Of Art, London and travelled overseas to paint in Hamburg, Copenhagen and at the Court of the Tsar in St. Petersburg. His decision to emigrate to New Zealand in 1855 was motivated by the improved financial opportunities in the colonies and a desire to settle his large family of seven sons and three daughters on pastoral land.
Beetham at 46 years of age and a European (pakeha) became one of the early settlers in New Zealand's colonial history when he arrived aboard the William and Jane Steamship at Port Nicholson, Wellington harbour on 1 December 1855. He settled at Te Mako, Taita in the Hutt Valley in 1860 after taking over a lease of land from Māori Chief Wi Tako Ngātata of Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Ruanui and Taranaki iwi, who was the most influential Māori chief in Wellington at that time and lived nearby at Naenae. The land was owned by Alexander Currie, chairman of the directors of the New Zealand Company. After Chief Wi Tako relinquished the lease of Te Mako in 1860, he agreed to have entrusted in Beetham's care a nationally significant Māori pātaka store house Nuku Tewhatewha that he had commissioned in 1856. This was carved by Horonuku Te Heu Heu of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. This taonga remains an important Māori carving and a symbol of solidarity and support to the Māori King movement Kingitanga. It formed one of the seven "Pillars of the Kingdom" (Nga Pou o te Kingitanga) and is the only one to have survived. In 1982, after 122 years of care Hugh Beetham, William's great grandson decided to return the pātaka to the City of Lower Hutt and it is now permanently housed at the Dowse Art Museum. Beetham eventually purchased the Te Mako land in 1876.
In 1856 Beetham also purchased a leasehold for land at Wainuioru in the Wairarapa for his sons, which by 1857 they had developed into the Brancepeth Estate. After the marriage of his eldest daughter Annie Beetham to T.C. Williams in 1858, Brancepeth was rapidly expanded and run by the Beetham-Williams family partnership to become one of the largest pastorals stations in New Zealand with 77,000 acres, 100,000 sheep, 300 employees and a 32 room homestead (10,000 sq ft) of Scottish baronial styled design with battlemented tower. Designed by the architect Joshua Charlesworth, Heritage New Zealand has listed Brancepeth as a Category 1 site. Brancepeth was used as a location for Board meetings of the International Wool Secretariat in 1964 and also visited by H.R.H. Charles, Prince of Wales when he wanted to observe an exemplary sheep station in New Zealand. Brancepeth also welcomed the BBC and Robin Day to film farming in NZ for the British public.
Beetham remained in the Hutt Valley where he farmed a small holding, though painting remained his private and public priority. In accordance with the tradition of Victorian portrait painters, Beetham never signed or dated his work. The subjects were considered of more importance than the artist. Identification of the artist of such work relies on solid provenance. Beetham's first commission to paint Māori came within a month of his arrival to NZ when Tamihana Te Rauparaha requested a posthumous portrait of his father Te Rauparaha, a Māori rangatira Chief and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who composed the famous Haka called Ka Mate. Beetham also painted Te Rauparaha's wife Rita or Ruth. Beetham's portraits of Māori preceded those of C. F. Goldie and Gottfried Lindauer and many commissions followed with the Māori noting Beetham’s accurate painting of the Tā moko. Beetham painted the Māori rangatira chiefs in Regency style to indicate class and status.

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