Castle Rock, Coromandel, sunrise, from the Mercury Bay track

Blomfield, a self-taught painter, first took up painting while on the Coromandel mining for gold in the late 1860s. Perhaps this scene is a memory from the time spent camping in the bush and exploring the area. The distinctive outline of Castle Rock, also known as the ‘Sleeping Giant’ for the recumbent visage its volcanic form takes, is silhouetted against the morning sky. In the foreground a pioneer accompanied by a packhorse makes his way along a track. The sides are lined with remnant tree stumps, suggesting it has been freshly cut into the bush. (Te Moananui a Kiwa, 2005)

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