{{short description|Australian painter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}} {{Infobox person | name = William Piguenit | image = William Piguenit.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1836|08|27}} | birth_place = [[Hobart]], [[Van Diemen's Land]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1914|07|17|1836|08|27}} | death_place = [[Hunters Hill]], [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]] | other_names = WC Piguenit | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = [[Painting]] | notable_works = }}
[[File:William_Piguenit_-_The_Flood_in_the_Darling_1890.jpg|thumb|325px|The Flood in the [[Darling River|Darling]], 1890]] '''William Charles Piguenit''' (27 August 1836 – 17 July 1914) was an Australian landscape painter.
==Early life== Piguenit was born in [[Hobart]], [[Tasmania]], to Frederick Le Geyt Piguenit and Mary Ann née Igglesden. Frederick had been transported to [[Van Diemen's Land]] in 1830, with Mary Ann following him. They married in Hobart in 1833.<ref>[http://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/ryde/piguenit.htm W.C. Piguenit of Hunters Hill<!-- bot-generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720104428/http://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/ryde/piguenit.htm|date=20 July 2008}} at www.ryde.nsw.gov.au</ref> His first artistic influences came from his mother, who set up a school for young ladies where she taught "French, music and drawing".
== Career == In 1850 he became a draftsman with the Tasmanian Lands & Survey Department, working in particular on the Geological Survey of Tasmania. During this employment Piguenit provided lithographic illustrations for The Salmon Ponds and vicinity, [[New Norfolk, Tasmania]].<ref>Hobart Town: M.L. Henn, [1867]</ref> He took painting lessons from Scottish immigrant artist Frank C. Dunnett (1822–1891). Until he got a good price for a painting from Sir [[James Agnew]], the Premier of Tasmania, he had little success as a painter. Piguenit left public service in 1873 to devote his time to painting. His painting of Tasmanian landscapes soon brought favourable reviews. He was a participant in the exploration, description and surveying of the western part of Tasmania. The paintings he produced of western Tasmania were purchased by the Tasmanian government under a special act of parliament.<ref name=DT/>
===New South Wales=== After moving to [[New South Wales|NSW]] in 1880 Piguenit's subjects included the Darling, [[Nepean River|Nepean]] and Hawkesbury Rivers as well as the [[Lane Cove River]] close to his Hunters Hill home. At this time he became one of the founders of the Art Society of New South Wales. Later, during a visit to Tasmania he was noticed by Lady Hamilton, wife of Governor [[Robert Hamilton (civil servant)|Robert Hamilton]] and many his drawings were purchased by the government for the Hobart gallery.
His ''Flood in the Darling''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/6105/|title=The flood in the Darling 1890|last=Piguenit|first=WC|date=1895|website=AGNSW collection record|publisher=Art Gallery of New South Wales|access-date=10 May 2016}}</ref> was purchased for the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (now [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]]) in 1895. In 1898 and 1900 he visited Europe, exhibiting at London and Paris. Returning to Australia he won the [[Wynne Prize]] in 1901 with his ''Thunder storm on the Darling.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1901/|title=Wynne Prize|date=1901|website=AGNSW prize record|publisher=Art Gallery of New South Wales|access-date=10 May 2016}}</ref> In 1903 he was commissioned by the National Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees to paint ''Mount Kosciusko.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/577/|title=Kosciusko|last=Piguenit|first=WC|date=1903|website=AGNSW collection record|publisher=Art Gallery of New South Wales|access-date=10 May 2016}}</ref> By the end of the century he was regarded as the leading Australian-born landscape painter.
== Death == Piguenit died on 17 July 1914 at his home, "Saintonge", in the Sydney suburb of [[Hunters Hill, New South Wales|Hunters Hill]].<ref name=DT>{{cite journal |title=Noted Australian Artist: Death of Mr. Piguenit |journal=The Daily Telegraph|date=20 July 1914 |page=6 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239066402}}</ref> He was buried in the [[Field of Mars Reserve|Field of Mars cemetery]], where his headstone inscription reads: IN LOVING MEMORY OF WILLIAM CHARLES PIGUENIT DIED 17th JULY 1914; AGED 77 YEARS. "UNTO THE UPRIGHT THERE ARISETH LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS" (Field of Mars Cemetery: C of E, Sec. C. Grave 618).
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="160"> File:William Charles Piguenit00.jpg|[[Hawkesbury River]] with Figures in Boat (1881) File:Wc Piguenit - Kosciusko - Google Art Project.jpg|[[Mount Kosciuszko]] (1903) File:W.C. Piguenit - Near Liverpool, New South Wales - Google Art Project.jpg|Near [[Liverpool, New South Wales]] (1908) File:William Piguenit - The Summit of the King William Range, Tasmania, 1902.jpg|The Summit of the [[King William Range]] (1902) File:W C. Piguenit - An Australian fjord - Google Art Project.jpg|An Australian Fjord (c. 1900) </gallery>
==Collections== * [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/piguenit-wc/ | title=WC Piguenit |website=Art Gallery of New South Wales |access-date=17 March 2026}}</ref> * [[Art Gallery of South Australia]] * [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://collection.artgallery.wa.gov.au/persons/8025/william-charles-piguenit | title=William Charles PIGUENIT |website=Art Gallery of Western Australia |access-date=17 March 2026}}</ref> * [[Geelong Art Gallery]] * [[National Gallery of Australia]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/artist/25169/wc-piguenit | title=W.C. Piguenit |website=National Gallery of Australia |access-date=17 March 2026}}</ref> * [[National Gallery of Victoria]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/472/ | title=W. C. PIGUENIT |website=National Gallery of Victoria |access-date=17 March 2026}}</ref> * [[National Library of Australia]] * [[State Library of Tasmania]] * [[Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery]]
==See also== * [[Visual arts of Australia]] * [[French Australian]]
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==Resources== * [http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an9188629 Diary, 1871, 1873, 1875], [[State Library of Queensland]] * Account of trips from Hobart Town to Port Davey 14 February 1871 – 9 March 1871, from Hobart Town to Lake St. Clair 8 Feb. 1873-10 Mar. 1873 and from Hobart Town to Queensland 13 September 1875 – 13 October 1875, including i.a. notes concerning sketches, photographs and landscape scenery.
==External links== {{commons category|William Charles Piguenit}} * [http://www.artnet.com/artists/william-charles-piguenit/ More works by Piguenit] @ ArtNet * [http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/piguenit-wc/ WC Piguenit] at the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] * {{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=William Charles|Last=Piguenit|shortlink=0-dict-biogP-Q.html#piguenit1}}{{dead link|date=October 2016}} * {{cite book| author=Webberley, Helen| title=Tasmanian Geographic Vol 11, 2014| url=http://www.tasmaniangeographic.com/an-artist-in-the-wilderness/}} * Joseph Davis, The Wild Man Who Turned Mild: the life and art of W.C. Piguenit 1836-1914[https://www.academia.edu/45441632/THE_WILD_MAN_WHO_TURNED_MILD_THE_LIFE_AND_ART_OF_W_C_PIGUENIT_1836_1914
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Piguenit, William}} [[Category:1836 births]] [[Category:1914 deaths]] [[Category:Colony of Tasmania people]] [[Category:Western Tasmania]] [[Category:Wynne Prize winners]] [[Category:19th-century Australian painters]] [[Category:19th-century Australian male artists]] [[Category:20th-century Australian painters]] [[Category:20th-century Australian male artists]] [[Category:Artists from Tasmania]] [[Category:Australian male painters]]