Black Thursday, February 6th, 1851 is considered to be one of Australia's most important colonial paintings and one of the Library's most valuable. It depicts a devastating bushfire that struck Victoria in February 1851. Many died in the fire, which was so fierce and far reaching that its glow could be seen by ships in Bass Strait.
Measuring 106.5 x 343cm, this large oil painting was painted by William Strutt, a Royal Academy trained artist who lived in Victoria from 1850 to 1862. Strutt never forgot his first experience of an Australian summer and made numerous sketches which he used many years later to compose the painting.
A large and compositionally complex work, it shows groups of terrified people and animals fleeing the dense smoke of the advancing fire. In the foreground is a careful arrangement of dead animals, skulls and bones in a memento mori.
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