Cirrus@Austlit

Artist and lithographer.

Prout was the nephew of the English watercolourist, Samuel Prout (1783-1852). He was a self-taught artist with some knowledge of lithography. Prout brought his wife and seven children to Sydney in 1840, hoping to succeed as an artist and printer. While in New South Wales, he held several exhibitions of his work and published Sydney Illustrated (1842-1844). His business venture failed due to the 1840s' depression. Prout then moved to Tasmania in 1844, where he gave lectures and produced the two-volume Tasmania Illustrated (1844-1846). After visits to Norfolk Island and Port Phillip, he produced Views of Melbourne and Geelong (1847). Prout and his family left for England in 1848, where he published two popular works: An Illustrated Handbook of the Voyage to Australia (1852) and A Magical Trip to the Gold Regions (1853). His drawings also illustrated E. C. Booth's Australia in 1876.

(Source: Adapted from V. W. Hodgman, 'Prout, John Skinner (1805 - 1876)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, MUP, 1967, pp 353-354; Wilde, William H. et. al. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (1994): 631-632.)