4th April 1834

[Glen at Port Desire ]

The sky at the top is blank, but there are indications of cumulus and cumulo-cirrus clouds behind and above the rocks in the background centre and left, some coloured purplish-grey; the sun is shining from the left perpendicular to the viewer's line of sight. In the right foreground, a vertical irregular rockface rises to the top of the picture, coloured brownish grey with dark shadows, and pale areas reflecting the sunlight. In the centre background we see a rocky barren-looking hill with very irregular upper contours, coloured a sandy brown with pale sun-reflecting areas; this feature appears about halfway up the picture, from the same height as which on the left a relatively even darkish brown and grey slope falls steeply from the left to the centre of the picture; while from the same height on the right a darkish brown and grey rockface falls very steeply, with indications of vegetation depicted in a richer brown, including a shrub or small tree with oak-like leaves. A similar slope in mid-picture at a greater distance falls across to the left-hand base corner. The right-hand half of the foreground is occupied by rough loose rocks, with a shrub indicated towards the centre.
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Conrad Martens' Sketchbooks

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