MR. J. D. PERRETT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 15 (Supplement)

MR. J. D. PERRETT.

Mr Perrett was bom near Glasgow, and studied for several years at the well-known Glasgow School of Art, which has been the initial stage of so many of our New Zealand men. Later on he went to London, where he studied in some of the best known studios. About 16 years ago he came out to New Zealand, and remained for 10 years in Dunedin, and for the last six he has resided in Auckland. He considers himself a naturalised New Zealander, though he was born in the Old Country. Mr Perrett is chiefly, if not entirely, a landscape artist, and before he came to New Zealand he had done some very good work in the Lake District of Scotland, and he finds many analogies between those lakes and the cold lakes of Otago, though the scenery of the latter is somewhat wilder. Mr Perrett has been an extensive exhibitor in nearly all the art societies of the colony, and his effective delineation of lake and mountain, rough rocks, and smooth flowing streams, is well-known to all lovers of the art. He is essentially an open air painter, and is rather fond of strong effects, his lights and shades being well distributed and finely delineated. He is considered to be a good exponent of wild New Zealand scenery, and is becoming every year more esteemed and successful, and being a prolific artist, his works are widely distributed throughout the colony, and have been favourably noticed by the press. His best work, however, is. not well suited for reproduction.

ling lake which so well justifies its name, is an excellent example of our artist's method of depicting the mountain scenery which is his particular forte. In the distance we see the great Cosmos Peak backed by the Barrier Range. A little nearer to the eye we behold Mount Kaos and a sister peak, and in the middle distance in front of the wooded foot-hills is Paradise Flat, with Aitken's well-known boarding house nestling in the birch forest. The wooded hill on the left is a spur of Mount Alfred, a favourite resort of tourists .who cannot endure, or do not care to undertake, the fatigues of real mountain climbing, but greatly enjoy a moderate scramble.