George Frederick Gregory

George Gregory Jnr was the eldest son of George Frederick Gregory. His father established a marine painting business in Melbourne in the 1850s, in which George and his younger half-brother Arthur also worked. They made numerous photographic reproductions of their ship portraits, selling the originals to captains or owners, and the photographs to the crews.

George worked in the various ports moving from Melbourne to Adelaide and then to the east to Sydney and Newcastle. He painted watercolour ship portraits in the manner of his father and like many ship portraitists working around the turn of the century forged liaisons with ship photographers to produce and sell work.

George Jr. was one of only a few who worked in several localities across Australia during his life. Starting in Melbourne with his father he then spent years working in South Australia, and finally in New South Wales.

Throughout his career, the quality of his output was diverse, and the dimension of completed works ranged from portable postcard-sized watercolours to examples exceeding 1.3 metres across. He was a versatile and commercially oriented artist.

George was active in Adelaide from 1888 until 1894, when personal problems led to him moving to Sydney and finally Newcastle in NSW.