NEW ZEALAND SCENERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1340, 4 August 1877, Page 17

NEW ZEALAND SCENERY.

the studio of our local artist, Mr J. C. Hoyte and of there seeing numerous water-colour pictures of the grand and beautiful .scenery of New Zealand, the subjects being chiefly picturesque places in the Middle Island Mr Hoyte in his journey through the Wakatip district, the bouthern Alps of Canterbury, the mount' suns .of Marlborough, and the fiords of the West .Coast, has token in his sketch-books a vast store of material from which he elaborates his fioished works. Not only 13 there an 'almost inexhaustible' number of subjects, but, they have, been selected with the judgment of one who has the true , artistic perception developed by training and practice/ *, Mr Hoyte. has finished a number of very fine watercolours, and of these there are a few well worthy of being particularised. In oticeablo is a very, fine view of the head of Lake Wakatip, from the 25-mile beach. "Bradshaw Sound," being the upper portion of the Sound, showing the Marrington peaks m the distance and a steamer speeding over the deep waters of the narrow channel, is a very good type of the unique scenery of theWest Coast. Of Milford, superb place, MrHoyte has some splendid pictures. The MitrePeak, the best subject, is well treated ; thePeak' is shown, as seen from the river at thehead of the Sound. This yiew shows the Mitreat sunrise, the rays juat touching the tip of *he.peak. Another view is a comprehensive picture of the Sound, looking from near the head! towards the entrance, and showing portion oE the Rugged Peaks, and also Pembroke Peak, the Lion, and the Mitre (at sunset). Theßowen Falls, at sunrise, is also a fine picture. Pembroke Peak, as seen from the sea near Martin's Bay, is a very effective picture. Dusky Sound, from Cook's garder, gives one of the finest views m that beautiful Sound. Mr Hoyte has. also water colours of other scenes in Milfoid, Thomson, Bligh, and Dusky— some of thenv dark with the gloom of clouded sky and overhanging mountains, and others in the brightest colours, as seen under a summer sun. We» have yet to see the artist who will do justice tothe colossal grandeur of the Sounds, whose* pictures will produce the impression which th<* sounds of our Western Coast make on the beholder.- Still. Mr Hoyte does as much justiceto them as perhaps any artist who has ever visited them, and his views are pleasant reminders to those who have seen the coast, and the very best description of it to those who havenot. One thing there is to which he does a. considerable degree of justice, and that is, tha beautiful but often rapidly fleeting tints seem upon the mountains at sunrise and sunset. Iheae Mr Hoyte has excellently depicted, and though the colours may, by .would-be critical folk, be thought in many casestoo bright, yet the brilliancy shown does not exaggerate, out rather does not come up to nature. Mr Hoyte, we are glad to say, has been kept going busily of late, and has received a specially large measure of support from our Cantezbury neighbours.