Biography: Heaphy, Charles

Charles Heaphy painted this series of coastal profiles about 1842, when he was a draughtsman for the New Zealand Company. They present seven continuous views of New Zealand’s west coast – from Queen Charlotte Sound in the northern South Island (top view), to north Taranaki, with Mt Taranaki (Mt Egmont) visible (bottom views). They show the variety of the country’s coastline – from rocky shores (top view), to a low-lying sandy coast (middle views) to the cliffed shoreline around Taranaki (bottom views).