Charles Blomfield

Charles Blomfield (1848-1926) arrived in Auckland in 1863, becoming known as a major colonial artist despite being largely self-taught (he was a house decorator by trade). His most famous paintings are of the world-renowned Pink and White Terraces, destroyed in the eruption of Mt Tarawera in June 1866. Unfortunately the prints made of these paintings are currently out of print.

Blomfield's original series of twelve oil paintings, done shortly before the eruption, he would not sell, but he painted many copies of them over the years. He went on several lengthy walking expeditions through remote country, and exhibited and sold the subsequent paintings to the growing tourist market from a studio in his home in Auckland. His work was shown in international exhibitions, and he is represented in all major galleries in New Zealand.