William Duke (artist)

William Charles Duke (1814 – 17 October 1853) was an Irish-born Australian artist remembered primarily for his portraits of several Māori leaders, and as a "journeyman painter of lively marine oil paintings of whaling, commissioned by Hobart shipowners".

Lucy and their now two children joined him from Sydney in September, by which time he was established as a scene-painter at the Hobart Town Royal Victoria Theatre in Campbell Street.

Duke worked with mechanist Richard Johnson on two moving, circular cityscape dioramas (views of Constantinople, Florence, Jerusalem and Venice) [7] which were exhibited in Sydney and Hobart in 1847 to paying audiences.

In 1852, Duke followed the lure of the Victorian gold rush, relocating with his growing family to country Victoria, where he continued portrait painting and theatre work.

Duke's last commission was for Joseph Andrew Rowe, an American circus owner who spent two years touring in and around Melbourne from 1852.