Auckland, The North Head from Cheltenham Beach

The Dunedin painter George O’Brien visited Auckland in the 1880s and produced at least two paintings of Cheltenham Beach, both of them showing groups of figures involved in various beach activities. A view painted from a very similar vantage point, The North Head from Cheltenham Beach, is at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (1978/27). O’Brien was always praised for his topographical accuracy (he was trained as an engineer and architectural draughtsman) and his paintings of Cheltenham Beach are no exception.