Kennett Watkins
Charles Henry Kennett Watkins was a New Zealand artist who was known for his New Zealand landscape paintings. He also painted scenes from the New Zealand Wars as well as of Maori life and history.
Biography
Charles Henry Kennett Watkins was born in Ootacamund, India to Major John Watkins of the Indian Army. After attending Wellington College and studying in Switzerland and France, Kennett immigrated to New Zealand at the age of twenty-seven where he first found work as a photographer before teaching in Russell. In 1876 he moved to Auckland where he found work as an art teacher, becoming the first and only headmaster of the Auckland Free School of Art.
Personal life
On 10 October 1876 Kennett married Clara Eliza Alice Davis at Kerikeri and had four children. Kennett died on 31 July 1933 in Mercury Bay, Waikato and was buried at Whitianga Public Cemetery.
Notable works
Waikato River, The Haunt of the Moa, a scene in Puriri Forest, The Phantom Canoe: A Legend of Lake Tarawera, The blowing up of the Boyd, Arrival of Captain Cook; An incident in the Bay of Islands, 29 November 1769, The Death of Von Tempsky at Te Ngutu o Te Manu, Departure of the six canoes from Raratonga for New Zealand, The Legend of the Voyage to New Zealand,