Knud Geelmuyden Bull was a Norwegian

Norwegians

Norwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and counterfeit

Counterfeit

To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...

er. He was convicted for delivering equipment for printing false bank notes, and was deported from Great Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1846. Bull is regarded as a significant pioneer in Australian landscape painting, and is represented in the major Australian art museums.

Early and personal life

Bull was born in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, a son of pharmacist Johan Storm Bull and his wife Anna Dorothea Borse Geelmuyden. He was a brother of violinist Ole Bull

Ole Bull

Ole Bornemann Bull was a Norwegian violinist and composer.-Background:Bull was born in Bergen. He was the eldest of ten children of Johan Storm Bull and Anna Dorothea Borse Geelmuyden . His brother, Georg Andreas Bull became a noted Norwegian architect...

 and architect Georg Andreas Bull

Georg Andreas Bull

Georg Andreas Bull was a Norwegian architect and chief building inspector in Christiania for forty years. He was among the leading architects in the country, and left his mark on Norwegian building history both as a creative architect, and through his measurement studies and archeological...

. He was an uncle of Edvard Hagerup Bull, Schak Bull

Schak Bull

Schak August Steenberg Bull was a Norwegian architect.-Personal life:He was born in Årstad as the son of Colonel Jens Munthe Bull and his wife Johanne Margrethe Hagerup . His brother Edvard Hagerup Bull was a judge and politician, and his maternal grandfather was politician Edvard Hagerup...

 and Henrik Bull

Henrik Bull

Henrik Bull was a Norwegian architect and designer. Among his works are the Paulus Church at Grünerløkka in Oslo, the National Theater, the Historical Museum in Oslo, and the Government Building. He also designed coins for Norges Bank, and participated at the Kristiania Jubilée exhibition at...

, a granduncle of Sverre Hagerup Bull

Sverre Hagerup Bull

Sverre Hagerup Bull was a Norwegian banker, composer and writer.He was born in Kristiania as a son of politician Edvard Hagerup Bull. He was a nephew of architect Schak Bull, and a grandnephew of painter Knud Bull, violinist Ole Bull and architect Georg Andreas Bull.He wrote several operettes...

 and a second cousin of Johan Randulf Bull

Johan Randulf Bull

Johan Randulf Bull was a Norwegian judge.He was born in Stod, as the brother of Johan Lausen Bull. He took the jurist examination in Copenhagen in 1778, and was a member of Det Norske Selskab there...

 and Anders Sandøe Ørsted Bull. He studied painting with J. C. Dahl in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 from 1833 to 1834.

He married Mary Ann Bryen in Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

, Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, in 1852. He died in December 1889 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia. He had three sons who all became painters.

Deportation to Australia

While visiting Great Britain in 1845, Bull was caught for having prepared equipment for printing of false bank notes. In a trial at the Central Criminal Court

Old Bailey

The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...

 in London in December 1845 he was sentenced to fourteen years deportation to Australia. He left Great Britain in May 1846, with the prison ship John Calvin. He was given opportunity to paint during the journey, and among his products were the paintings The Wreck of the Waterloo at Cape Town in 1842 and Aboard the John Calvin in the N.E. Trades near Madeira. He came to Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...

 in September 1846, and was transferred to the penal colony

Penal colony

A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...

 Saltwater River, Tasmania

Saltwater River, Tasmania

Saltwater River is a former penal colony on the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania, Australia. It is located 23 kilometres from Port Arthur, and 106 kilometres from Hobart. At the 2006 census, Saltwater River had a population of 156.The Saltwater River area contained two penal settlements...

 in 1847. He spent several years in Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

from 1849, and was finally released from custody in 1853.

Painting career in Australia

There were few painters in Australia at the time, and Bull was the only professional landscape painter in Hobart. In the 1850s he was a teacher at the William Slade Smith Academy, and also painted local landscapes. Bull is regarded as a pioneer in Australian landscape painting, and is represented in several major galleries in Australia. Among his paintings is Entrance to the River Derwent from the Springs, Mount Wellington from 1856.