Schoenfeld, Freiderich (c.1810-1868)

Melbourne. Painter, lithographer, and teacher.

A painter and lithographer, Schoenfeld moved to Melbourne from Switzerland in 1858. He worked with Ferdinand von Mueller at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens and with Frederick McCoy at the National Museum of Victoria, producing botanical illustrations and lithographs for their publications. He also took art classes at Melbourne's German clubs. With only occasional employment, depression led him to take his own life.

Did engraving for F.Mueller, Fragmenta (1858), Plants Indigenous to the Colony of Victoria (1864-1865), Analytical Drawings of Australian Mosses (1864), and etc.

References: M.Rix The Art of the Plant World (1981); J.Kerr The Dictionary of Australian Artists (1992); H.Hewson Australia - 300 Years of Botanical Illustration (1999)

Source: Mainly extracted from: Wrigley, J.W. (2013) Eucalypt Flowers, National Library of Australia, Canberra.