This portrait of Richard Rouse (1774-1852), builder of Rouse Hill House in the Parramatta district of New South Wales, is one of a pair commissioned by Rouse from William Griffith, a local Parramatta artist who in the 1840s enjoyed a reputation as 'an excellent likeness painter', particularly renowned for his crayon portraits. Rouse was a substantial landholder in the Parramatta and Hawkesbury districts and has been described as the 'type of pioneer that the colony needed, a devoted family man, a loyal member of the Church of England, a hard-working and honest public servant and a very efficient grazier'. [ref: Marjorie Lenehan, entry for Richard Rouse in the
Australian Dictionary of Biography]. The Rouse portraits are modest and unpretentious, seeking to capture their likenesses for posterity rather than their status within colonial society. [ref: Joan Kerr, ed.
The dictionary of Australian artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravings to 1870 Oxford University Press, 1992, pp.326-327]
The Rouse Hill collection also includes a portrait miniature of Richard Rouse [R100/30] which is apparently derived from Griffith's portrait
