CATALOGUE OF THE THIRD EXHIBITION OF FINE ARTS AT THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, CAPE TOWN, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, FOR 1858

Modern three-quarter leather binding with cloth sides preserving the original wraps.

xvi + 18pp.

Five copies recorded in South African repositories (SABIB Vol.I, page 459).

An interesting early Cape Town art exhibition catalogue.

Some rules of the exhibition were as follows

a.) Sticks, umbrellas, and parasols were to be left in charge of the door-keeper.

b.) It is particularly requested that no works of art be touched.

c.) All works in the Catalogue marked with an asterisk are Colonial productions and works marked with a + denotes that the picture is for sale.          

'The purpose of this Exhibition is to gratify taste in those who have cultivated the sense of beauty and grandeur; to awaken and direct the love of elegance and refined pleasures in the young; and to encourage artistic genius by bringing enlightened public opinion to appreciate the merit of its creations.

In countries like this, opportunities of cultivating taste in the fine arts are comparatively rare. With few exceptions the places of public resort present a frigid blank wall without animation, unbroken by thought, and in every sense dead.

The collection is large, and varied, and unexceptionable in every respect. It remains to be seen whether Taste has made sufficient progress at the Cape to enable them to defray the expenses incurred, and to gratify with prizes some of those who have contributed to their entertainment.' - Introduction