Policy, taste or chance? – acquisition of British and Foreign oil paintings by the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1874 to 1935

Submitted by Stewart Reed MArtAdm

This thesis is submitted to the School of Art History and Art Education at the College of Fine Arts of the University of New South Wales in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art Administration (Honours).

2013

University of New South Wales New South Wales Australia

ORIGINALITY STATEMENT

‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’

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AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT

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Abstract This thesis is a critical examination of the acquisition of British and Foreign oil paintings by the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1874 to 1935.

In 1874, the NSW Parliament voted £500 towards the formation of a gallery of art. The Minister asked the NSW Academy of Art for advice and, after internal discussions, the Academy advised the Minister that the funds should be spent on watercolours. The Academy believed that £500 was insufficient to purchase oils. The Minister appointed five Trustees to administer the vote. All were members of the Academy‘s Council. They quickly appointed the first London selectors. This was the beginning of what is now the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW).

When Directors were appointed they were subservient to the Trustees in the selection of works for the collection and all policy decisions remained with the Trustees. The overseas selectors and the Trustees initially agreed on purchases but over the years there were a number of disputes about the works acquired for the AGNSW leading to selectors being replaced by Advisors and travel by Trustees and staff.

Another influence was the Government. The major factor was the amount of money voted for purchases but a number of Members felt that they had to right to override the choices of the AGNSW Trustees.

This thesis approaches the growth of this collection from a museological and historical perspective not from an art theoretical aspect although those critics and writers who influenced the AGNSW Trustees and staff are considered along with prevailing historical, financial and administrative pressures.

The research question: to what extent was the AGNSW British and Foreign oil painting collection a result of a collections policy or the tastes and choices of its Trustees, staff and advisors from 1874 to 1935 is answered by this thesis. There was no formal collections policy in the period examined and while taste played a part, the main criteria for acquisitions this period was validation by the two main art organisations: the Royal Academy in London and the Salon in Paris.

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Contents ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ...... i COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ...... ii AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ...... iii Abstract ...... iv Contents ...... v List of figures ...... vii List of tables/graphs ...... vii Abbreviations and definitions ...... viii Spelling, capitalisation and punctuation ...... ix Acknowledgements ...... x Chapter 1 – Introduction ...... 1 The need for this thesis ...... 3 Research methodology ...... 6 Chapter 1 - Notes ...... 15 Chapter 2 – Literature review ...... 20 The art world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ...... 20 The role of museums ...... 28 Chapter 2 - Notes ...... 34 Chapter 3 - The beginnings of the Art Gallery of New South Wales ...... 42 Sydney in the 1870s ...... 42 NSW Academy of Arts ...... 45 The first vote ...... 48 Chapter 3 - Notes ...... 52 Chapter 4 - The Montefiore years: 1874 - 1894 ...... 56 The Trustees ...... 56 London selectors ...... 59 Paris selectors ...... 62 Relationship between the Trustees and selectors ...... 62 Relationship between the Minister/Government and Trustees ...... 63 Sources of works ...... 67 Acquisitions – from 1874 to 1894 ...... 68 Chapter 4 - Notes ...... 77

Contents Page v

Chapter 5 – The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 ...... 86 The Trustees ...... 87 London and Paris selectors...... 88 Acquisitions – 1895 to 1913 ...... 93 Chapter 5 - Notes ...... 102 Chapter 6 – Moving to Modern? – 1913 - 1935 ...... 109 Trustees ...... 110 London selectors ...... 111 Acquisitions 1913 - 1935 ...... 113 Chapter 6 - Notes ...... 124 Chapter 7 - Conclusions ...... 133 Reasons for acquisitions ...... 134 Conclusion ...... 137 Further study ...... 138 Chapter 7 - Notes ...... 139 Chapter 8 - Bibliography ...... 141 Appendix A - New South Wales Academy of Art – First two meetings ...... 153 Appendix B - AGNSW Trustees - 1874 to 1935 ...... 155 Appendix C - NSW government - 1870 to 1935 ...... 157 Appendix D - British artists in the AGNSW collection at the Royal Academy ...... 161 Appendix E –French artists in the AGNSW collection exhibiting at the Salons ...... 171 Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 ...... 174

Contents Page vi

List of figures

Perspective drawing of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. From AGNSW catalogue 1919 ...... Cover Figure 1 – The frontispiece of the AGNSW 1883 catalogue...... 9 Figure 2 – Announcing the opening of the Academy’s rooms to exhibit the first acquisitions by the AGNSW ...... 12 Figure 3 – Edouard Detaille, Vive L'Empereur...... 27 Figure 4 - The National Picture Gallery at the Public Library, Melbourne ...... 44 Figure 5 - Eliezer Levi Montefiore ...... 46 Figure 6 – Sir Alfred Stephen ...... 56 Figure 7 – Thomas Lane Devitt ...... 61 Figure 8 – William Charles Piguenit, Mount Olympus, Lake St Clair, Tasmania ...... 68 Figure 9 – Ford Madox Brown, Chaucer at the Court of Edward III...... 70 Figure 10 – Nicholas Chevalier, Race to Market – Tahiti...... 71 Figure 11 – Keeley Haleswelle, Non Angli, sed angeli...... 72 Figure 12 - Andrew Gow, A Jacobite Proclamation, oil on canvas ...... 75 Figure 13 - David Murray ARA, The Angler...... 89 Figure 14 - Charles Hoffbauer, Sur les Toits ...... 91 Figure 15 – William Henry Margetson, The sea hath its pearls...... 94 Figure 16 – Alfred East, The Valley of the Lambourne ...... 97 Figure 17 – John Seymour Lucas, The King’s rival...... 98 Figure 18 – Walter Barns Wollen, Britain’s Watchdogs ...... 100 Figure 19 – Camille Pissarro, Peasants' houses, Eragny ...... 109 Figure 20 - John Longstaff, J S MacDonald as a boy ...... 110 Figure 21 - John Arnesby Brown, The marshes near Norwich ...... 112 Figure 22 - Charles Sims, An Island Festival...... 114 Figure 23 – William Orpen, Italian major...... 115 Figure 24 - Jacques Blanche, Marshal Foch ...... 117 Figure 25 – Charles Watelet, Les felins ...... 118

List of tables/graphs

Table 1 – Growth of the AGNSW oil painting collection - 1875 to 1935 ...... 2 Table 2 – Sydney and Melbourne population 1861 - 1901 ...... 43

Contents Page vii

Abbreviations and definitions

ADB Australian Dictionary of Biography AJIE Exhibited at Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition, 1887 ARA Associate Member of the Royal Academy (usually after an artist’s name) AGNSW Art Gallery of New South Wales. This abbreviation is also used for the period 1883 to 1958 when the prefix National was used. AGNSW catalogue yyyy Art Gallery of New South Wales illustrated catalogues from 1883 to 1928 where yyyy is the year. CIE Exhibited at Centennial International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888 Gallery Gallery spelt with a capital means the AGNSW. Letter Correspondence sent or received by the AGNSW (See the note on Letters in Chapter 2 - Literature review). Mins Minutes of the Meetings of the Board of Trustees. See the note on Minutes in Chapter 2 - Literature review). MLA Member of Legislative Assembly (Lower house of NSW Parliament) MLC Member of Legislative Council (Upper house of NSW Parliament) NSWAA New South Wales Academy of Art NZIE Exhibited at New Zealand International Exhibition, Christchurch, 1906-07 RA Royal Academy RA Royal Academician (when after a name) RAAS Exhibited at (Royal) Anglo Australian Society of Artists RBA (Member of) Royal Society of British Artists RE (Member of) Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers Records Records of the New South Wales Academy of Art RHA (Member of) Royal Hibernian Academy RI (Member of) Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours ROI (Member of) Royal Institute of Oil Painters RSA (Member of) Royal Scottish Academy RWA (Member of) Royal West of England Academy RWS (Member of) Royal Watercolour Society SBA (Member of) Society of British Artists SIE Exhibited at Sydney International Exhibition, 1879-80 Sir Knighted or awarded a baronetcy SMH Sydney Morning Herald. TIE Exhibited at Tasmanian International Exhibition, 1894-95

Abbreviations, definitions, spelling, capitalisation and punctuation Page viii

Spelling, capitalisation and punctuation Many conventions for spelling, capitalisation and punctuation have changed since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this thesis, current conventions have been used. This is to avoid readers being irritated by what may appear to be typographical errors. This means that today’s spelling is used so watercolour is used, not water color or watercolor which was the form used by writers of many of the documents quoted. The newspapers had headings in capitals or a mixture of capitals and small caps so these have been changed to just having capitals for the first letter of each word except for of, the, etc. Similarly, punctuation has been updated so there are no spaces between a word and a colon or semi colon. Full stops after initials and terms such as Mr have also been removed.

Italics have been used for quotes, not quotation marks. However any spelling errors in quotes have been retained and indicated by sic.

Abbreviations, definitions, spelling, capitalisation and punctuation Page ix

Acknowledgements For their guidance and advice, I would like to thank my supervisors, Associate Professors Joanna Mendelssohn and Fay Brauer at COFA. I would like to thank other staff at COFA who either provided advice or analysis including Associate Professors Alan Krell and Leong Chan. James Paull and Maria Zueva of the UNSW Library and Learning Centre provided help at various times over the last two years. Thanks also to my fellow students at COFA, including members of the Post Graduate Research Discussion Group. I discussed this thesis with students and staff from other universities and they provided feedback which was always appreciated.

A special thank you to Joanna Elliot of the COFA Student Centre for providing timely and comprehensive information and assisting me to navigate the various UNSW systems

I would like to thank the staff at the Edmund and Joanna Capon Research library at the Art Gallery of New South Wales where the majority of research for this thesis was carried out. Steven Miller, Head of the Edmund and Joanna Capon Research Library and his staff: Claire Eggleston, Vivian Huang, Robyn Louey, Eric Riddler and Kay Truelove made the archives readily available and also provided information about which documents and books that would provide the information for this thesis.

I wish to thank the staff of the other libraries I used for information for this thesis: the COFA library the NSW State Reference Library, Mitchell Library and the State Library of Victoria.

At the AGNSW thanks are due to the many people who helped with information at various times including Lucinda Chambers, Matt Cox, Megan Young and Tracey Keogh and the others whose names I do not know.

Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Helen McGarry, for her continued support, incredible tolerance and especially for proofreading this paper. Any errors that remain, however, are all my own.

Acknowledgements Page x

Chapter 1 – Introduction This thesis describes the most important factors which contributed to the growth and development of a significant component of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) collection. It covers British and Foreign oil paintings only for the period from when the first work was acquired to 1935. There are two reasons why British and Foreign oils and the period to 1935 were selected. The first is a practical reason: the Master of Art Administration Honours thesis is limited to 30,000 words and expanding the scope would require considerably more words than that. The second is that oil paintings are considered by the majority of people to be the most important works in any museum of western art.1 In the period examined, the AGNSW purchased just over 600 oil paintings for approximately £106,600 while over the same time it purchased about 370 watercolours for less than £16,000.2

The Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection website states:

The collections of an art museum such as those of the Art Gallery of NSW are enormously rich and varied. They are a fascinating barometer of the evolution of taste and style, and of changing social, cultural and even political values. They are also a definitive marker of the growth of an institution. In our roughly 130-year history, the Art Gallery of NSW has become far more than just a destination for looking at pictures … But above all, as a museum of art we must be a place of experience and inspiration, and at the heart of that lies our collection.3

The works examined in this thesis reflect the taste and style, and of changing social, cultural and even political values of, first, the colony of NSW and, then, NSW as part of the Commonwealth of Australia. In the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, British meant not only people living in the United Kingdom but also those in its colonies such as NSW, whether they were born in the United Kingdom or not. Also in the nineteenth century the Gallery tended to consider Australian artists as either British or Colonial (or both). The term Australian was not used regularly until the twentieth century for Australian works at the AGNSW.4 Colonial was an expression used with pride in the late nineteenth century with none of its current connotations. The Gallery used ‘Foreign’ to describe works by non-British artists including European and American artists from its earliest days. The term Foreign was in use at the Gallery until the 1920s.5

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 1

The numbers below may not be absolute. When research for this thesis commenced in 2011, the following was on the Advanced Search page of the AGNSW Collection website: The online database contains records of more than 26,000 works in the Art Gallery of NSW collection, which dates back to the late 1800s. However, the amount of information varies considerably between records, often depending on when the work was acquired, whether it has featured in exhibitions and publications, and the amount of research that has been undertaken.6

The AGNSW acquired a total of 818 oils (excluding Old Master copies7) from 1874 to 1935.8 During the period, 55 oils were deaccessioned9 resulting in a net total of 763. There were 362 Australian, 246 British and 145 Foreign oils. Figure 1 shows the relative growth of the oil painting collection.

AGNSW - Oil paintings - Nett Acqusitions - 1875 to 1935 400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61

Table 1 – Growth of the AGNSW oil painting collection - 1875 to 1935

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 2

The graph above shows how the oil painting collection grew from 1875. Despite the first work acquired being Australian, initially the growth in the Australian collection was gradual. For the first twenty odd years the number of British and Foreign oils acquired were roughly equal but after this the British collection grew more rapidly than the Foreign collection. Eventually the growth in British oils was surpassed by the growth in the acquisition of Australian oils. The total number of Australian oils only exceeded the number of British and Foreign Oils some years after 1935.

The need for this thesis

The research question to be answered by this thesis is: To what extent was the AGNSW collection of British and Foreign oil paintings a result of a formal or informal collections policy or the tastes and choices of its Trustees, staff and advisors from 1874 to 1935?

Why is it important to know this? A visitor to the AGNSW, after walking up a few steps and through its classical portico, sees a wide range of works on display. Its exhibition space is over five levels with some works in traditional nineteenth century galleries and the rest in display space built between 1972 and 2003.10 The works range from contemporary works to ancient oriental works. A visitor may pick up a floor plan to help navigate around the Gallery but there is little other printed material about the collection available without charge. There is minimal wall text in the permanent collection galleries. Most labels for each work show the name of the work, its creation date (if known), artist’s name with birth and death dates, the medium, the acquisition date and, if a gift or bequest, the name of the donor. Some labels also have additional information about the work or the artist. A few may also indicate the provenance of a work e.g. Purchased from the Sydney International Exhibition 1879 or Purchased at the Royal Academy 1897.

Many visitors will be happy with this level of detail. A keen visitor may also go on a free guided tour or purchase a handbook to obtain more information. As an example, the handbook for the Asian collection includes names of a number of donors but does not provide any details of the reason why the works were donated.11 As shown in Chapter 2 – Literature review, there have been a number of other publications but these ignore any thorough examination of why the AGNSW purchased the works in its collection. They present the results of the decisions but the decisions themselves escape any examination.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 3

The examination of the reasons behind why works have been acquired is important 12 as it answers some of the questions about the collection that both a scholar and an interested visitor could ask: Why are there very few Impressionist paintings when the AGNSW was founded at the same time as the first impressionist exhibition was held in Paris? Why are subsequent modern movements so poorly represented? Why does the Gallery have so many nineteenth-century artists I have never heard of? Why did it collect European paintings when New South Wales was a loyal British colony and the Gallery, in its first year, decided to collect British works? What influence did art critics and theorists have on the collection? How did it select work for its collection - was it artistic excellence, cost effectiveness or did the trustees play safe by buying established names?

Many works, including several by artists highly regarded in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have been removed from the AGNSW’s collection over the years.13 To understand the overall collection, works that are no longer in the collection must be considered as well.

The AGNSW was founded in a different world to that of today. One factor that was extremely different was the concept of colonialism. Colonialism is now seen as negative with the Oxford Dictionaries Online defining it as the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.14 Even 40 years ago, colonialism was a neutral term with the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defining it as the practice of belonging to, or relating to a colony.15 In the second half of the nineteenth century, it was used with pride in Sydney. The New South Wales Academy of Art proudly advertised in 1871 that it would hold an Exhibition of Works of Colonial of Art in 1872.16

Living in a colony, however, also meant that the colonialists appreciated that they were not at the centre of their world. The centre, in the case of Sydney, was London and inherent in the relationship was that London was superior and Sydney was provincial. In 1974, Terry Smith stated that Provincialism appears primarily as an attitude of subservience to an externally imposed hierarchy of cultural values.17 This meant that Sydney would look to London for its art and its attitude to art. This was reinforced by the concept of home that existed in Sydney. When people spoke of home, it meant England (or the UK).18 A good example is the Trustees of the AGNSW in 1896 setting up a sub-committee to discuss the Home Selection Committee by which they meant the Selection Committee based in London.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 4

In the question above the expression collection policy is used. There was no collections policy in today’s sense at the AGNSW. The collections policy that people would perceive for the AGNSW was to collect British art emulating the art galleries at home. Ron Radford in his foreword to the catalogue for the Love and Death: Art in the Age of Queen Victoria exhibition wrote Art museums in her19 former colonies of Australia and New Zealand eagerly collected British Victorian paintings.20 The exhibition curator, Angus Trumble, continued in this vein:

Australian colonies newly bestowed with responsible government assembled the institutions of learning and of culture that were thought indispensible (sic) to a civilised outpost of the British Empire. …

At the same time, art museums and their antecedents in booming Australian cities were from the 1850s and 1860s collecting examples of the work of the best living British artists. Many of the paintings in this exhibition were sent directly from the artist's studio to miniature hybrid versions of the National Gallery and the South Kensington Museum (Victoria & Albert Museum) in London that were sprouting like mushrooms in each Australian colony.21

This reflects a widely held belief that the AGNSW, like other colonial galleries, predominantly collected British paintings. This thesis will determine whether this is correct.

It will also examine factors influencing the Gallery’s Trustees when acquiring works for the collection. These factors included the government (and Ministers in particular), art dealers, donors, the press and the public and how that influence was exercised whether overtly or otherwise.

It is important to carry out this study in order to provide a comprehensive view of a major part of the collection of one of Australia’s foremost art museums and how it has developed. This thesis will fill a gap in Australian museum and public history and hopefully will be complemented by other researchers examining other Australian art collections.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 5

Research methodology

This section describes the research methodology used for this thesis. It consists of using a number of ‘layers’ to ascertain what happened at the Gallery. It starts with identifying all the British and Foreign oils acquired by the AGNSW. This is followed by identifying, where possible, the opinions, taste and prejudices of those involved in the selection of artworks and the reasons why some oils were accepted and others rejected. Finally the public reaction to the artworks will be examined.

Most of the primary sources used for this thesis come from the AGNSW Archives. In the second volume of his biography, A pavane for another time, art historian Bernard Smith22, documented his fight with Director, Hal Missingham, about retaining documents for the Gallery Archives:

He’d look at an old document, puzzled, ‘Is this worth keeping Bernard?’ …Hal (was a) victim of the Jacobin fallacy, ‘to get on with the new we must erase the past’. I managed to save as much as possible, but I’m afraid a lot of stuff that should have been preserved went into the bin.23

All current (and future) researchers have to live with this legacy. While more documents have been discovered and added to the Archive since the 1950s, Smith’s comments are still valid over sixty years later.

Identifying acquired works

To an outsider, this may seem to be a simple task – unfortunately this is not the case. The approach of early Trustees seems extremely casual by comparison to today’s insistence on both accuracy and detailed information in collections management. To be fair to the early Trustees, the oversight of a couple of hundred recently acquired works that were permanently on show is far removed from the collection of approximately 29,000 today.24 This includes works on display25, on a mixture of short and long term loans and in four different Gallery locations.26

The first document recording the AGNSW’s collection is Purchases and presentations made between 1876 – 1935. This lists the purchases and presentations (i.e. gifts and bequests) of works to the Gallery. For purchased works, this is divided into sections: oils, watercolours, sculpture, etc. There is no separation by nationality.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 6

Although the first work was acquired in 187427, this register was not started until 189328 and is retrospective for acquisitions. Presentations however are only recorded from 1894. All presentations are listed together, with books, medals and reproductions being interspersed with oil paintings, watercolours, works on paper, etc.

This is not the easiest document to use because a number of its entries are illegible. It usually shows only the date of acquisition, title or subject, artist and price for most purchased or commissioned works. While some have the actual date, others only have the year. On some works the date recorded in this register is later than the date of a catalogue in which the work has been listed. One example is the Burgomaster by Eleanor Bell. The register has the acquisition date as 1885 but the work is included in the 1884 catalogue.29

Another issue is that some artists’ names are missing, especially in the Presentations section. The donor was considered more important than the name of the artist. An example is in 1919 when a Mrs M A Dalley gave the Gallery a collection of porcelain & 4 oil paintings but there are no further details in the register.30 The oils have been identified using both printed catalogues and the AGNSW Collection website. A further complication is that a number of works have been re-titled at the AGNSW since their purchase.31

Purchases and presentations made between 1876 – 1935 has notes for some works stating that they had been deaccessioned or transferred to another institution. These entries mainly go up to the 1930s although there are a few references to the 1940s.32

The main problem with using this register is not its illegibility but the omissions, both for purchases and presentations. There are no details of works given or bequeathed to the Gallery before 1894. A number of early AGNSW catalogues were examined to find any missing works as were the catalogue cards (see below). A number of additional works were found using these but there can be no guarantee that the list is 100% correct. The AGNSW Collection website admits that they cannot guarantee the complete accuracy of its information.33

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 7

As this thesis considers works acquired up until the end of 1935, the Purchases and presentations made from 28.8.1935 – 16.12.1949 was also used to find relevant purchases, gifts and bequests. A few works appear in both registers. This is more professionally completed than the earlier register but again the information for each work is limited with normally only the acquisition date, artist’s name, title, medium, price or value, however it also has the acquisition number, and for some works, a few words about the provenance of the work. While the register starts with typed pages, it reverts occasionally to hand written pages.

Following the Director’s Report on Cataloguing34, a new system of card indexes was set up for all works then in the AGNSW’s collection. These cards were used to confirm information and as they were used by later curators, there was additional information on them for a large number of works.

The current AGNSW Collection website (based on the Vernon collection management system) was used to obtain up to date information about the works still in the Gallery’s collection.35

Cross checking artwork details

Collection catalogues were used to cross check the details from the acquisition registers. The first catalogue of the AGNSW collection was produced privately by Arthur Greenwood and Harold Stephen in 1883. This catalogue is in several parts with Part II describing the works in the Gallery’s collection divided by medium. All oils have a short description and most have a critical appraisal as well. The comment Not one of the artist’s best works about Conrad Marten’s watercolour Apsley Falls, would have rankled with the Trustees as they had commissioned this work in 1874.36

While the Trustees allowed this catalogue to be sold in the Gallery’s vestibule, it was never considered an official publication and it was quickly superseded by the first official catalogue in the same year.37

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 8

The official catalogue (see Figure 1) was 60 pages long and the collection was divided into five sections: oils, watercolours, black and white works, sculpture with the last section covering vases and other objects. This catalogue has one feature which seems strange today. There are 94 line drawings of works in the collection by E L Montefiore – then one of the Gallery’s Trustees. Some works have brief descriptions and measurements. A limited number have critical comments and, not unsurprisingly, unlike Greenwood and Stephen, all of these are positive.

Figure 1 – The frontispiece of the 1883 catalogue. This was the personal copy of David Scott Mitchell, (See Chapter 2). His name is in the upper right hand corner. The second updated edition was produced in 1884. The third edition in 1886 retained the five sections but works were listed in accordance with their location in the Gallery. This organisation was dropped in the fourth edition (1888) but the location based listing was reinstated in the fifth edition in 1891. This edition also had photographs added to complement the line drawings. The sixth edition was produced in 1893.

The seventh edition was printed in 1899 and had 128 pages. The works were now divided into 18 sections including three for oil paintings: British and Foreign, Copies of Old Masters and, lastly Australian. The line drawings were replaced by black and white photographs.

In 1906 a new catalogue was prepared and was published in four editions (the last in 1912). As well as black and white, colour photographs were used including some full page photographs. There was additional information for the reader including lists of inward and outward loans with the names of works on loan.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 9

The next catalogue appeared in 1917 and this ran to four editions. In 1924, another catalogue appeared, also in four editions, the last being in 1928. This had less information than previous catalogues (e.g. no history of the Gallery) but obviously had more works. At the front was a diagram of the courts and which types of work (e.g. British and Foreign Oils) were hung there. Confusingly, some of the Old Masters copies were listed in the British and Foreign oils section.

The next catalogue of British oil paintings was produced in 1987 almost sixty years after the previous catalogue which included these works. This was produced by Renée Free, the then Senior Curator of European Art. While the previous catalogues were, in the main, little more than room lists, this was a scholarly work although space constraints meant that only limited information was provided about many of the paintings. There has been no equivalent catalogue for Foreign38 oils.

Many of these catalogues provide additional information about works and artists which appear in the acquisition registers including full names or initials where only a surname was in the acquisitions register. They also clarified misspelt names, illegible writing in the early register and provided birth and death dates to distinguish between artists having the same last name. Some works had different names in different documents and the use of dimensions, line drawings and photographs helped resolve some of these.

In addition, artists’ names and other details have been checked in Benezit39, Design and Art of Australia Online 40 and McCulloch’s Encyclopaedia of Australian Art.41 The last two references are used to ensure that any Australian works listed in the past as British are excluded.42

Trustees’ meeting minutes

In the main, the Trustees of the AGNSW approved the acquisition of works whether by purchase, donation or bequest at their meetings.43 The minutes of the Trustees’ meetings approving purchases are in two sets of documents.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 10

The first is the Records of the Art Academy of New South Wales which consists of approximately 750 pages (known as folios) of documents from 1874 to 1880. As well as minutes the Records also includes some letters received by the Academy and Gallery, copies of letters sent, catalogues, annual reports and press clippings (including articles, letters to the Editor and advertisements).44 In these years, the Academy and Gallery were closely intertwined, with the Gallery’s Trustees usually also being the Academy’s Council members. The meetings of the two bodies were usually held on the same day and the minutes of the two bodies are in the Records.

From August 1880, the minutes of the Trustees are contained in bound volumes. There are approximately 4,250 handwritten pages covering the period from 1880 to 1935.45 As with any handwritten material, there are some issues with legibility.

The quality and quantity of material in the minutes varies greatly. Some entries are comprehensive including copies of correspondence relating to the decisions made, while others have a single line covering the purchase of several works.46

The Trustees discussed potential acquisitions at both their normal monthly meetings and special meetings held at art exhibitions. However, in the main, the reasons behind the selection or rejection of works are rarely documented. The minutes only say whether a work was acquired or not although there are some entries giving the Trustees’ opinions about works purchased by the London selectors.

Correspondence

More information was found in the Gallery’s correspondence about the acquisition of works by the Gallery. Outwards correspondence is the Letter Books from 16 May 1877 to 31 December 1923 which consists of copies of outward correspondence from the Gallery. Inwards correspondence is recorded in a number of series which is explained in the notes.47 As these are mainly handwritten until the early years of the twentieth century there were some issues with legibility but few of the letters examined provide reasons for selection or rejection by the Gallery’s advisors beyond that in the Trustees’ minutes.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 11

Newspaper and journal articles, etc.

The AGNSW’s activities have received considerable press coverage since its earliest days. As well as a number of factual accounts including openings (see Figure 2), visits by the Governor and even changes in opening hours, there was critical evaluation of the artworks acquired. Unfortunately, most authors were anonymous or used a pseudonym so it is not possible to identify them.48 It leaves open to speculation whether the writers had a score to settle or were being impartial.

Figure 2 – Announcing the opening of the Academy’s rooms to exhibit the first acquisitions by the AGNSW, SMH, 2nd June 1876, p. 1 In this thesis articles will be taken at face value. However we must wonder about the objectivity of the writer of an article about a gift of medals to the Gallery in the Sydney Morning Herald in 187949 as the donor was the paper’s proprietor, James Fairfax.

Letters to the editor

Another source is letters to the editor. If a reader had a strong opinion about any of the Gallery’s purchases or policies, they would write to the editor of one of Sydney’s newspapers. The Trustees would get involved in these exchanges. When the new Trustees started to discuss what types of works to buy in 1874, there were a number of letters to the editor about whether to buy copies of old masters or contemporary works. Thomas50 was for old master copies and Montefiore51 was against. Some correspondents used pseudonyms or initials so it can be difficult to ascertain who wrote some of the letters.

Chapter 1 – Introduction Page 12

Trustees, selectors and Directors opinions, taste and prejudices

The views of the Trustees, advisors and Directors could also be explained by looking at the works they produced. Many were artists, either professional or amateur, and this could affect their selections of works. However, care must be taken for it is possible for someone who produces works in one style to have tastes which encompass a wider variety of styles and techniques.

In contrast, their writings usually give an accurate view of their opinions and prejudices. One example is Lionel Lindsay’s Addled Art, first published in 1942 which clearly states his view on a number of styles and artists.52

Thesis outline

This thesis is divided into eight chapters, the first being this introduction.

Chapter two is a literature review. The first part examines the contemporary literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the role of the Royal Academy (RA) and the Salon in Paris. The second part covers the development of art galleries and art museums in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century. It also examines literature about the other Australian state art galleries founded in the nineteenth century and the literature which has contributed to our current knowledge of the AGNSW.

The next chapter is a review of the creation of the AGNSW including its evolution from the New South Wales Academy of Art. It discusses the influence of Melbourne where the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) was founded in 1861. This thesis does not cover the physical buildings or any loan exhibitions that were held in the Gallery.

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Chapter 4, The Montefiore years: 1874 - 1894, examines the people involved in the AGNSW from 1874 to 1894. This period has been chosen as 1894 marks the death of Eliezer Levy Montefiore. Montefiore was instrumental in the creation of the New South Wales Academy of Art, one of the initial Trustees of the Gallery and its first Director. It covers, in turn, the Director, Trustees, the overseas selectors, Ministers and other members of the New South Wales government. It reviews the relationships between each of these groups and lastly it describes significant acquisitions – not in artistic terms but in the evolution of the Gallery’s collection policies and the factors affecting acquisitions. The acquisitions in this 20 year period are examined. It looks at from where the purchases were made including the Royal Academy, Salons and exhibitions in Australia. It also examines the relationship between the selectors and trustees and how they disagreed on individual works. The structure used in this chapter is also used in the following two chapters.

The fifth chapter, The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 describes the people and personalities together with the Gallery’s acquisitions for the period from 1894 to 1913. This period has been selected as it was in 1913 that Gother Mann was promoted from Secretary and Superintendent to Director.

Chapter 6, Moving to modern?: 1913 – 1935 examines the period from 1913 to 1935. 1935 was selected as this was when the Gallery acquired its first French impressionist painting. It also looks at how the AGNSW’s acquisitions were affected by World War I when the Gallery acquired a number of war related works.

The Conclusions chapter answers the question posed in the research question for this thesis. It also makes recommendations for further research in this area.

The last chapter is the bibliography for the thesis.

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Chapter 1 - Notes

1 Including the early Trustees of the AGNSW.

2 Both the number of works and amounts must be treated as estimates. They include Australian works but exclude gifts and bequests. The records of the Gallery contain errors, omissions and inconsistencies especially in the early years. See Chapter 2 – Literature Review for more details. The main documents used to produce the figures were the AGNSW’s acquisition registers and the Trustees’ minutes.

3 As at 1st September 2011, this website said it contained 28,478 artworks. AGNSW Collection website. . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

4. It was common for people to describe themselves as both British and Australian until the 1950s. The words British Subject were only removed from Australian passports in 1967. The evolution of the Australian passport website, , Viewed 11th Dec 2012.

5 It was used in the 1928 catalogue where oils and watercolours were shown in courts (the AGNSW term for galleries or rooms) called British & Foreign or Australian. Today the AGNSW calls these works Western art to distinguish them from Australian works.

6 In 2012, it was changed to the more anodyne: The online database contains more than 28,000 works in the Art Gallery of NSW collection. The amount of information may vary considerably between records. AGNSW Collection website. . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

7. There were almost 60 Old Master copies in oils acquired by 1935, however all but four were acquired by gift or bequest.

8 Until 1959, all works acquired by the AGNSW were given a number from 1 to 9999. The first use of this system occurred around August 1935. This is derived from the fact that accession numbers prior to that month do not relate to the date that works were acquired. The first work, a watercolour, acquired in 1874 is number 117 while the first oil acquired the following year is 6141 and number 1 was purchased in 1929. This numbering sequence seems to reflect the hanging and storage locations in 1935.

9 This includes those sold, transferred to other institutions, or exchanged/part-exchanged for other works,

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10 About us: History of the building, Art Gallery of New South Wales website, http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/about-us/history/. Viewed 31st Mar 2011.

11 Jackie Menzies (Ed), The Asian Collections - Art Gallery of New South Wales, pp. 9-11.

12 The reasons why other works have not been acquired is equally important.

13 The AGNSW has sold works since 1890. Two major sales were held in 1946 and 1996. James R Lawson Pty Ltd , Catalogue of The Valuable Pictures to be sold by public auction on Tuesday 26th November 1946 at 11 o’clock a.m., and Sotheby’s, Auction Catalogue: - Australian Paintings, Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Books, European and American Works of Art – Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th August 1996,

14 Oxford Dictionaries Online, . Viewed 11th Mar 2013.

15 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. 1, p. 369.

16 ‘Notice to Artists; and Others’, SMH, 21st Oct 1871, p: 2.

17 Terry Smith, ‘The Provincialism Problem’, Artforum, Volume XIII, Number 1, September 1974, p. 54.

18 Mins 11/3158, 16th Apr 1896, Folio 266

19 Radford, in his previous paragraph, refers to Queen Victoria.

20 This exhibition toured to Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney. Ron Radford, ‘Director’s Foreword’, Love & Death: Art in the Age of Queen Victoria, p. 12.

21 Angus Trumble, ‘Love & Death: Art in the Age of Queen Victoria’, Love & Death: Art in the Age of Queen Victoria, p. 22.

22 Smith was commencing his research for his A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875-1952 which was published in 1953. Bernard Smith, A pavane for another time.

23 Bernard Smith, A pavane for another time, pp. 458 – 459.

24 The AGNSW website on 15th Mar 2013 stated there were 29,404 works in the collection. AGNSW Collection website, . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

25 Only about 5% of the AGNSW collection is on display at any one time.

26 Apart from the AGNSW’s main building in the Domain, there is the Brett Whitely studio in Surry Hills and two external storage facilities.

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27 The first British and Foreign oil painting was acquired in 1876.

28 1893 was during the period when Eliezer Montefiore was the Director. Hal Missingham, Report on Cataloguing, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1959, p. 2.

29 This is one of several works shown as purchased in 1885 but also listed in the 1884 catalogue. It appears that the catalogue was delayed and only published in 1885.

30 Purchases and presentations made between 1876 – 1935, p. 129

31 As well as name changes, many works have had their names anglicised. AGNSW Collection website, . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

32 These are not dated but appear to be in Daniel Thomas’s hand. Thomas joined as Professional Assistant (but he retitled his job as Curatorial Assistant) in 1958. He was the only curator until 1966.

33 It states The online database contains records of more than 26,000 works in the Art Gallery of NSW collection, which dates back to the late 1800s. However, the amount of information varies considerably between records, often depending on when the work was acquired, whether it has featured in exhibitions and publications, and the amount of research that has been undertaken. AGNSW Collection website, . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

34 Hal Missingham, Report on Cataloguing, pp. 3 - 4.

35 The AGNSW’s Vernon collections management includes deaccessioned works. The AGNSW’s website, which is based on the Vernon system, which is accessible to the public (including the writer) only includes works which are accessioned. In late 2012, the AGNSW put on display two ceramics which are not on their website but have been in the Gallery since 1881, when they were transferred to the Gallery by the Colonial Secretary, Sir Henry Parkes.

36 This was the first work to enter the AGNSW collection.

37 Greenwood and Stephen requested permission to produce a second edition of their catalogue in 1884 but this was refused. Mins 11/3157, 3rd Mar 1884, Folio 189.

38 Today the AGNSW includes these works as Western art along with British works.

39 Benezit, Dictionary of Artists.

40 Design and Art Australia Online. . Viewed 28th Feb 2011 and subsequently.

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41 Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, and Emily McCulloch Childs, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopaedia of Australian Art.

42 This can be difficult to determine in cases where an artist spent time in more than one country. The AGNSW claims as Australian any artist who spent part of their time in Australia even if they spent most of their life overseas, e.g. Nicholas Chevalier and Charles Conder.

43 The Trustees held monthly meetings although this didn’t always occur for a number of reasons. In the earliest years there were occasionally insufficient attendees to form a quorum. They also held special meetings. Most special meetings were held at an exhibition to decide whether to purchase any works but others were held to receive important visitors to the Gallery or to discuss pressing issues (e.g. appointment of a new Director to replace G V F Mann in 1928).

44 Originally the Records of the New South Wales Academy of Art were bound but they have been photographed as the originals are too fragile to be examined by researchers. The photographs have been numbered (usually on the back in pencil) but they are not sequential. The minutes of the first Trustees meeting held on 4th August 1874 are folios 631 and 633 while the meeting held on 10th November 1879 are folios 491 and 493. Folio 492 has an unidentified newspaper clipping describing the visit of the Governor, Lord Loftus, to the Art Gallery at the Sydney International Exhibition.

45 The first volume, numbered 11/3157, has the minutes from 31st Aug 1880 to 4 Aug 1891 and contains folios from 1 to 549. The next five volumes had similar numbering. Volume 11/3163 starting on 25th May 1923 commenced with folio 551. This continuous numbering continued until the 1980s. The first typed minutes are for the 23rd Nov 1945 meeting although the AGNSW acquired a typewriter by 1903 which was used for letters.

46 The referencing to the minutes is in the format Mins xxxxx, dd mmm yyyy, Folio nnn. xxxxx is either NSWAA records where the minutes are in the Records of the New South Wales Academy of Art or a volume number for the minutes from 31st Aug 1881 (e.g. 11/3157), dd mmm yyyy is the date and nnn is the folio number(s).

47 The correspondence in the Archive is divided into a number of series. These are:

a) Letters contained within the Records of the NSW Academy of Art. These contain both inward and outward letters.

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b) Letter copy books containing copies of outward letters. Most of these are on numbered pages of the copy book while others have been pasted into the books. The books are numbered LB1 (starting on 16th May 1877) to LB33 (ending on 31st Dec 1923) and each page is numbered. Letters from 27 Oct 1920 to 26 May 17 May 1922 are missing. The method used to create copy books increases the chance of illegibility. Also, some pages have been damaged so it is sometimes impossible to understand every word in a letter. Copies of typed letters are sometimes inserted in the letter books.

c) Unclassified inward letters from the start of the AGNSW to 1905. These are in a series of archive boxes with the prefix CF and the years covered e.g. CF 1886-7. The AGNSW is upgrading its archive storage and box numbering is being changed.

d) Correspondence between the Gallery and the Government in 1899 and from 1918 to 1919. These have the prefix CFGvt followed by the year.

e) Correspondence about British and Foreign acquisitions from 1892 to 1926. The boxes have the prefix CFB followed by the year(s).

f) General correspondence from 1894 to 1947. The boxes have the prefix CFG followed by the year(s). From 1923 copies of outward correspondence is also included in this series. From 1932, letters currently do not have individual reference numbers.

The AGNSW’s correspondence is incomplete. Many letters mentioned in the Trustees’ minutes cannot be found in any of the series mentioned above. The Library is undertaking a major project to recatalogue their correspondence so reference numbers quoted in this thesis may also change in the future.

48 Newspapers rarely identified authors of articles until after World War II.

49 While the article names the donor, he is not identified as the proprietor of the SMH. Perhaps, in 1879, the writer assumed all his readers knew who Mr Fairfax was. ‘Some British Medals’, SMH, Sydney, 26 Jul 1879: p. 7.

50 J H Thomas, ‘National Gallery of Art’, SMH 16 Nov 1874, p. 5.

51 While this letter signed was signed E.L.M. we can be reasonably sure that the writer was Eliezer Levi Montefiore - one of the first Trustees and the Director from 1892 to 1894. E.L.M., ‘Academy of Art – To the Editor of the Herald’, SMH, 18th Nov 1874: p. 6.

52 Lionel Lindsay, Addled Art.

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Chapter 2 – Literature review This literature review is in two parts. The first part examines the contemporary literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which influenced the men1 who were responsible for the original AGNSW collection. It then examines the role of the Royal Academy (RA) and the Salon in Paris and the exhibitions and dealers from which the AGNSW purchased its works.

The second part covers the development of art galleries and art museums outside New South Wales. It discusses the rise of public museums in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century, as the UK provided the role model for museums and art galleries in the Australian colonies including Sydney. It examines other Australian state art galleries founded in the nineteenth century and how they compared with Sydney. It also examines the literature which has contributed to our current knowledge of the AGNSW’s history - whether it is focussed on the collection, buildings, politics or personalities - including those responsible for the decisions which resulted in the Gallery’s collection.2

The art world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

The Trustees, and later staff3, of the AGNSW who made purchases did not collect in a vacuum. They were influenced by a number of factors. Initially, it was critics and commentators and until World War I, the British critic John Ruskin’s influence seems the most important. However there were other writers and publications influencing the Trustees. They were also influenced by the prestige of the major institutions from the centres of the British Empire in London and the art world in Paris: the Royal Academy (RA) and the Salon. They used the endorsement of these institutions as a way of validating their purchases with the government and public alike.

John Ruskin’s influence was dominant throughout the colonies as well as in Britain itself. He was prolific. His first published work, at the age of 15, was an essay on geology in the Magazine of Natural History in 1834.4 He continued to write for another 55 years until illness and old age brought his active career to a close.5

Ruskin has a number of principles that he propounds but the two that would have resonated with the Trustees would have been that art involves the whole being, physical, mental and spiritual and that great artists have always been impelled to teach important and eternal truths.6

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His first writings on art and architecture were a series of articles, The Poetry of Architecture, published in the Architectural Magazine in 1838. Ruskin’s reputation as an art critic was established by the first volume of Modern Painters in 1843 where he discussed truth in landscape painting while championing Turner. This was followed by four more volumes (in 1846, 1856 (two volumes) and 1860). In 1849, he published The Seven Lamps of Architecture where he expounded his architectural principles. In 1851, the first volume of The Stones of Venice about Venetian art and architecture was published. In the same year he defended the Pre-Raphaelite painters with his pamphlet, Pre-Raphaelitism. The last two volumes of The Stones of Venice were available in 1853. These works were joined by a number of other books, essays and lectures. Ruskin’s works were regularly reprinted up to the First World War.

In the introduction to his selection of Ruskin’s works, Ruskin Today, published in 1964, Kenneth Clark wrote Throughout the whole half of the nineteenth century he was accepted by all thoughtful people as one of the impregnable figures in English literature.7

He wrote on many subjects but his main influence on those associated with the AGNSW was as an art critic.8 In 1877, Ruskin wrote in the preface of St Mark’s Rest, a guide book to Venice:

Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others; but of the three, the only quite trustworthy one is the last. The acts of a nation may be triumphant by its good fortune; and its words mighty by the genius of a few of its children: but its art, only by the general gifts and common sympathies of the race.9

This shows where Ruskin places the visual arts – above history and literature. He is stating that only art is honest – everything else is subject to luck and manipulation.

He begins the first chapter of The Seven Lamps of Architecture with the words Architecture is the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by man, for whatever uses, that the sight of them may contribute to his mental health, power and pleasure.10

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Clark summarises some of Ruskin’s beliefs as that art is not a matter of taste but involves the whole man. The mind and imagination must be based on facts and those facts must be perceived not learnt. This meant that the greatest artists believe it is their duty to impart truth, not only about the facts of vision but also about religion and the way life is conducted. Good art is done with enjoyment and the artist must feel, within limits, that the artist is free and the artist is wanted by society. Lastly, great art is an expression of times where people are united by a common faith and purpose.11

In later years, but before his frequent bouts of illness, Ruskin reiterated these principles in his Lectures on Art12 at Oxford where he was first elected to the Slade Professorship of Fine Art in 1869. In his inaugural lecture on 8th February 1870, he states:

The art, or general productive and formative energy, of any country, is an exact exponent of its ethical life. You can have noble art only from noble persons, associated under laws fitted to their time and circumstances.13

These extracts show that Ruskin believed art to be moral and that it was very important in the life of all people. This sentiment struck a chord with the Trustees of the AGNSW along with many of their contemporaries. An influential supporter of Ruskin in Australia was Melbourne critic, James Smith, who like Ruskin wanted art to stimulate the moral and spiritual faculties. Smith was Trustee of the Public Library, Museum and National Gallery of Victoria from 1880 to his death in 1910 and the AGNSW Trustees would have known of his work.14

Ruskin’s reputation declined at the beginning of the second decade of the twentieth century (he died in 1900). There are three main reasons. The first is that Ruskin does not speak to his readers, he preaches.15 This style became unacceptable as the Victorian age gave way to more open forms of expression. The second reason is his inability to focus and the frequent digressions in his writing. Clark states in his later writings, where literally every sentence starts a new train of thought, he reduces his reader to a kind of hysterical despair.16 A one volume abridged version of Modern Painters appeared in 1987. The editor, David Barrie17 states that he had reduced its length by roughly half but much has not been sacrificed due to Ruskin indulging in digression and repetition.18 The last reason was the success of impressionism and other painterly styles replacing the styles and artists championed by Ruskin.19

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A Ruskin revival started in the 1960s and continues to this day, especially in Britain, but his work is no longer accepted uncritically. There have been some reprints and digitisation of his works but these have been outnumbered by books, commentaries and articles about Ruskin. Art critic Peter Fuller (1947-1990)20 was influenced by Ruskin including using Ruskin’s principle even beauty in art is always founded in its resemblance to a living organism as the basis of one of his books

The AGNSW acquired a number of books by Ruskin. The Trustees Minutes for 29th June 1881 state Mr Du Faur submitted schedule of Ruskin’s works which can be obtained from England at a cost under £20 – Approved.21

The detailed contents of the personal libraries of the Trustees are not known. However, the reading matter of the Trustees is indicated by a number of sources. We can surmise that they would have included Ruskin and other writers as these are found in the libraries of their contemporaries. David Scott Mitchell22, the well-known book collector, had a copy of the 1873 edition of Modern Painters in his collection. As his collecting at this time was focused on English literary works, especially fine editions, we may assume that these volumes reflected his interest in visual arts not just collecting books. If his aim was to collect a copy of this work as a book, Mitchell would have been more likely to collect the first edition. Eileen Chanin in her PhD thesis points out that Mitchell was familiar with Ruskin’s principles.23 The Mitchell Library has over 100 books, catalogues, etc. about art provenanced to Mitchell24 and these include copies of the Art Journal, Art Treasures of Germany: a collection of the most important pictures of the galleries of Dresden, Cassel, Brunswick, Berlin, Munich and Vienna, Ruskin’s Pre-Raphaelitism (this is the first edition) and some of the early catalogues published by the AGNSW.

Sir Henry Parkes, who bought works as Colonial Secretary25 and transferred them to the AGNSW, died in 1896. The auction catalogue of his effects listed Ruskin’s Stones of Venice, Unto this Last, Story of Ida26 and Modern Painters.27

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In May 1908, Du Faur gave a number of books including three works by Ruskin to the AGNSW library: Val d’Arno, Morning in Venice and Lectures on Architecture and Painting.28 The first two books are no longer in the Library and an examination of the third shows it has both an owner’s name and a dedication. The name is E M D Woolley and the dedication is To Emmeline and Marina (?) a little memorial of services freely and affectionably (sic) rendered Sept 6 1856 from Papa. Emmeline Mary Dogherty Woolley, a musician and composer, was Du Faur’s sister-in-law and she died on 18th March 1908.29 We can surmise that Du Faur gave her art books to the AGNSW library.30

Ruskin is quoted in two AGNSW catalogues. In the Greenwood & Stephens catalogue published in 1883, a quote from Modern Painters is used to describe Early Sketch by Samuel Prout. In the 1891 catalogue, the entry for Edward William Cooke’s Mont St Michel – Shrimpers includes His pictures are much eulogized in Palgrave’s “Essays on Art,” and Ruskin’s “Notes.”. Modern readers may find Ruskin extremely difficult to read with his verbose language and endless digressions. However, his influence on the early Trustees cannot be underestimated.

Another influential writer for this generation was Richard Muther (1860 – 1909), a German art critic and historian who is largely forgotten in Australia today.31 His History of Modern Painting first appeared in 1895 in German but an English edition was soon published as a monthly magazine. It covered painters of most European countries as well as the USA. The AGNSW started subscribing in 1896.32 Muther’s work discussed type of paintings as well as schools and individual artists. His chapter on The Military Picture discusses both Detaille and De Neuville whose works are in the AGNSW.33 In some of his chapters on English painting, Muther quotes Ruskin on several occasions.34

The early AGNSW catalogues have quotes from a number of other sources. These include Benjamin’s Contemporary Art in Europe (1877), Palgrave’s Essays on Art (1866) and The Art Journal.

In the early years of the twentieth century, the opinions of British and European critics and commentators became less important for the Gallery’s Trustees and staff.35 This is because their focus had moved to acquiring Australian works, most of which were created by artists whom the Trustees knew rather than by artists from a distant country. The majority of British and Foreign works purchased during this period were by academic painters.

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Validation by the Royal Academy and the Salon

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the official European art world revolved largely around London and Paris. In turn, each of these cities had a dominant institution for exhibiting artists - the Royal Academy in London and The Salon in Paris.

The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) was founded on 10th December 1768 by George III when he signed its Instrument of Foundation.36 As it was under royal patronage it quickly became the main art society in the UK. In 1968, to mark its 200th anniversary the RA published Sidney Hutchison’s History of the Royal Academy 1768-1968 in London. This provides a good overall history but as an official publication it is uncritical.37 This is one of many books and articles about its history, however that history is not relevant for this thesis. The records of which artists exhibited, and which works they exhibited, is important.

By the time of the AGNSW’s foundation the RA’s Summer Exhibition was the most prestigious official art exhibition in the British Empire. In a Memorial presented to the King on 28th November 1768, the 22 artists requesting the formation of a Society for Promoting Art and Design under the King’s patronage and protection stated that one of their objectives was:

an Annual Exhibition, open to all artists of distinguished merit, where they may offer their performance to public inspection, and acquire that degree of reputation and encouragement which they shall be deemed to deserve.38

The first Summer Exhibition was held in 1769 and continues today. There are two dictionaries showing the works exhibited in the RA Summer Exhibition: one covering the period from 1769 to 1904 and the other covers from 1905 to 1970.39 For each exhibitor, there are details of the name of the works exhibited, the catalogue number, the artist’s address and the type of artist they were (e.g. painter, sculptor, engraver, etc.).40 If they were elected as an Associate or Member of the RA in the period covered by the dictionary, these dates are also shown.

The AGNSW Trustees considered that a work being hung at the RA was an important justification for them to purchase the work. Cooke’s Shrimpers (see above) was unusual in that it was not a contemporary work. It was painted in 184241 but only purchased at Christie’s in 1887. However it had been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1843.42 If the AGNSW purchased a work from a RA exhibition, it was usually noted in the AGNSW catalogues.43

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The Trustees used the fact that works had been exhibited at the RA when replying to criticisms of its acquisitions. The main forum where this was carried out was in the newspapers. One example was in November 1879 when a writer in the SMH expressed disappointment in some of the artworks exhibited in the Sydney International Exhibition.44 Du Faur and Montefiore, both Trustees of the AGNSW, were members of the Exhibition’s Fine Art Committee and were partly responsible for selecting the works in the Exhibition.45 Du Faur wrote to the Editor of the SMH defending the works (see Chapter 4) citing their exhibition at the RA.

The Salon had its origins in the École des Beaux-Arts which was founded in 1648. Unlike the RA, there have not been uninterrupted annual exhibitions but in the second half of the nineteenth century when the majority of the AGNSW’s Foreign works were acquired46, The Salon was the leading art exhibition in the world. It attracted artists from all over the western world whereas, in the main, only artists working in the English speaking world exhibited at the RA. A number of non-French artists who exhibited at The Salon had works acquired by the AGNSW.47

The Salon, like the RA, is well documented but again, while its history is not relevant, its details of artists and their exhibits are. Unlike the RA, dictionaries have not yet been created for all Salon exhibitors.48 There is no complete set of Salon catalogues currently publically available in Sydney or online.

Again, the newspapers would refer to the fact that a work had been exhibited at the Salon. In a notice about the purchase of Detaille’s Vive L'Empereur in 1892 (see Figure 3), it states that the painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1891.49

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Figure 3 – Edouard Detaille, Vive L'Empereur, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. From AGNSW catalogue 1919. Art dealers in Sydney

In its earliest years the AGNSW’s stated intention was to purchase works through its London Selection Committee.50 However from the earliest years they were assailed by requests to purchase works locally. They ranged from private sellers who made one attempt to sell, to dealers who repeatedly offered works to the Gallery with varying degrees of success. The Sydney art patronage system, 1840 – 1940 published in 1997 includes a good account of these dealers.51 The earliest were those who dealt in artworks as a sideline. This included stationers and music shops.

As Sydney grew in size dedicated dealers started with regular exhibitions or a steady supply of works available for purchase. Another source of works was the art galleries in Sydney’s department stores52 which held exhibitions of works by Australian artists. They also imported works or were the venues for overseas exhibitions including the exhibition of British Art at Farmer & Co’s Blaxland Galleries in 1933.53

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The role of museums

The AGNSW was one of many museums and art galleries created in the British Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century. The increase in museums and galleries occurred in most of the colonies as well as the UK. Some examples54 are Oxford University Museum of Natural History (1860)55, National Gallery of Victoria (1861), National Gallery of Canada (1880)56, Art Gallery of South Australia (1881), Manchester Art Gallery (1882)57 and Dunedin Public Art Gallery (1884).58

This growth was accompanied by the first serious discussion about the role of museums and art galleries. A leading writer in this period was Thomas Greenwood whose Museums and Art Galleries was first published in 1888. It contains a mixture of descriptions of museums in Britain and Europe, his reflections on them as well as some practical advice.59

In the introduction he lists the main objectives of a museum60, these being:

1st Providing rational amusement of an elevating character.

2nd Being, in the fullest sense, an educational institution easily accessible to all classes.

3rd Providing a home for examples of local objects of interest to an antiquarian, geological, or other character.

4th Part of it being a commercial museum containing local manufactures.

5th Being one of a series of institutions whose object shall be to further the education of the many.

He adds that all these objectives need not necessarily apply to every Museum. In Sydney No 3 was met by the Australian Museum and the University Museum while No. 4 was met by the Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum.61

Like Muther, Greenwood did not hesitate to quote Ruskin stating Mr Ruskin’s influence on the age has been marked and beneficial. To many he is known only as an art critic, but to others he is known as an idealist with regard to Museums adding that Ruskin says that A Museum is be it first observed primarily, not a place of entertainment, but a place of Education.62 His description for the purpose of art galleries reminds us again of Ruskin although it is not a direct quotation.63

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Greenwood supported the Sunday opening of museums and devoted a chapter to the controversy then current in Britain.64 The AGNSW first opened on Sundays in 1881.65 At the end of his book, Greenwood gives 17 arguments in favour of museums. His second last point shows his view of the relative status of museums in different countries: Because we do not want Old England to be behind other countries, and America, France, Germany, and the Australian Colonies are setting us an example worthy of imitation.66

While modern writers have discussed the growth of collections, they have focussed more on private and royal collections than public institutions. In his book about collections from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, Arthur MacGregor writes about a wide variety of collections.67 This includes medical, natural history, science and technology collections as well as art. His one discussion of a public art collection is Dulwich Picture Gallery in London where he notes that it was the first public accessible gallery in the UK but was based on a gift from a private collector.68

There have been few publications about the overall growth of museums and art galleries in Australia. One edited by two highly regarded Australian museum professionals, Des Griffin and Leon Parossien Understanding Museums: Australian Museum and Museology was published online.69 It covers all types of museums and focuses on museum development since the 1970s.70

Andrew Montana’s The Art Movement in Australia: Design, Taste and Society 1875-1900, was published in 2000 and describes art movements in the last quarter of the nineteenth century but rarely mentions specific works.71 He does mention two acquisitions by the AGNSW – the purchase of Constance Roth’s Apples72 and the gift of Japanese vases from the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition.73

Each state and territory in Australia has a major public art gallery equivalent to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Two of these were founded in the latter part of the twentieth century and have not been investigated.74 The others were contacted75 to ascertain what research has been done about the development of their collections.

While there have been publications about each gallery and some of these included a section on the development of the collection, there has been no explanation of why works were purchased in preference to others.76

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The only collection to have any work published about the reasons why works were collected in preference to others was the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). This is not surprising as the NGV, founded in 1861, is considered to have the leading collection in Australia. The Felton Bequest has provided funds far in excess of any other gallery and this has ensured a rich and varied collection. In 1970, a comprehensive history of the Gallery by Leonard Cox was published but did not cover why some works were selected and others were rejected.77

In 1987, Ann Galbally wrote The Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria.78 While this could be considered a picture book, the accompanying short essays are of a scholarly nature and give insight to the principles which governed the development of the collection from its earliest days. Sir Redmond Barry, the driving force behind the NGV, showed that he agreed with Ruskin’s principles when he wrote to another Trustee of the Public Library:

Our desire … was to bring together a comprehensive and well balanced series of groups to illustrate national characteristics, and exhibit the history of the growth of refinement and intellectual excellence represented in the arts.

He added:

To form not merely a Museum for amusement but the rudimentary basis of a School of Design.79

This last comment mirrors Ruskin’s view of museums as quoted by Greenwood (see above).80

Barry used the first government grant of £2,000 to buy casts, photographs, medals, coins and gems but no original works of art. The section of the book about purchases prior to the Felton Bequest describes how purchases were mainly of British art but the NGV’s London advisor from 1891, Herbert von Herkomer, purchased European prints as well.81

Galbally also edited and contributed to The first collections: the Public Library and the National Gallery of Victoria in the 1850s and 1860s. This accompanied an exhibition held at the University of Melbourne Art Museum82 in 1992 about the early collections of the NGV and the Public Library. This catalogue described the wide variety of exhibits but did not go into detail about why the selected works were chosen over others.83

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In 2008, J R Poynter’s Mr Felton’s Bequests focused on the conflict between the different personalities but does explain how the differing opinions affected the works purchased by the NGV.84 However, he also documents how the conservatism of J S MacDonald (Director 1936 – 1940)85 resulted in many fine works not being acquired by the NGV.86

There is one work which investigated some of the NGV purchases in depth. In 2005, Betty Snowden completed a PhD, Policies, personalities and politics: Modern French Art and the National Gallery of Victoria 1860 – 1940.87 This comprehensive account is one of the few Australian studies which examined the reasons why works were acquired or not. Snowden explained that the conservative taste of the Trustees and Directors was the major factor. However, the byzantine structure of the Felton bequest committees and the personality clashes between the various parties meant that many recommended works were rejected in the period covered. In an international context, the relatively low funding did not help either.

Since its earliest days, the AGNSW has been publishing its history in a number of documents. The most recent is the current AGNSW website88 which has a section devoted to the history of the Gallery. The section on the history of the building (1,091 words) is larger than that about the history of the collection (751 words) even though this part of the history is largely devoted to past and present funding of acquisitions. Only three art works are mentioned by name. This approach has been found in the large number of publications and talks about the history and development of the AGNSW with the artworks largely ignored in favour of the building, funding and personalities.

On 22nd September 1880 Sir Alfred Stephen, the then President of the Trustees, gave an address at the official opening of the Art Gallery in the Domain.89 He talked about the history of the collection and while mentioning the sums voted to purchase artworks, the names of Trustees and donors to the Gallery, he managed to avoid mentioning the name of any artwork. He states however that 44 oil paintings had been purchased for the Gallery since 1875.90

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This address was reprinted in the Gallery’s 1883, 1884 and 1886 catalogues with the number of oil paintings (and their cost) being updated each year. In the fourth edition, in 1888, Stephen’s address was no longer printed but a new introduction listing the history of the Academy and the Art Gallery was included with the name of works and artists taking equal place with the names of the founders of the Academy, current Trustees and donors to the Gallery. This type of introduction was in most catalogues until the last catalogue listing all works which was produced in 1928.91

A number of the catalogues listed above have critical comments about the works they describe but few indicate the reasons why they, instead of other works, were purchased.

In 195992, the then Director, Hal Missingham, gave a lecture on Purchases and Acquisitions 1958. The first part of the nine page typed transcript of this lecture summarises the number of works purchased and the amounts paid. It also lists the major gifts to the gallery for that year. The second part describes the major works purchased. The most expensive work purchased was a cubist painting by Henry Hayden which cost 1,500 guineas (£1,575). A hand written note by Missingham mentions that the Daily Mirror art critic says the only thing worth mentioning is the frame.93

He also gave a lecture on the history of the Gallery to the Royal Australian Historical Society on, 28th April 1970. Missingham opens his lecture by stating that he is not a historian but an artist. He adds I am not overly concerned whether Leonardo or Van Gogh live today or existed hundreds of years ago, or whether they were in debt or were single or many times married. What I am interested in is their paintings.94

In 1972, with the reopening of the AGNSW after the building of the Captain Cook wing, Art and Australia devoted a special number95 to the Gallery. Forty-five pages were devoted to the Gallery and its collection but little background as to why works were acquired was included. At the same time, the Gallery published a picture book but with only two pages of text, it had virtually no information about collection development.96

In the following years more publications appeared but none delved into why works were acquired. Portrait of a Gallery97, published in 1984, contains less information than the July 1972 issue of Art and Australia.

It is unlikely that the AGNSW would include information about why they chose or rejected works in its publications, etc. The Gallery would not be inclined to list its failures or feel the need to justify its existing purchases.

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Therefore we need to look at works written and published by others. Two theses written about the history of the AGNSW have been identified. The first, written by Noel Hutchison98 for a BA at the University of Sydney in 1968 ignores the artworks completely focusing on the people involved. The second, written by Cecilia Alfonso99 for a BA at the University of New South Wales in 1988 covers the period from 1871 to 1987 and while it mentions a number of artworks, there is no critical assessment of why they were purchased.

Heather Johnston discusses some of the Gallery’s purchases in her 1997 The Sydney Art Patronage System 1890 – 1940.100 This covers both purchases in London and the growth in purchasing Australian art from 1889. Johnston mentions how the works purchased were in the same taste as that expressed by Trustees in their own collections, writings and personal papers.101 She also discusses how the conservative taste of some Trustees in the 1920s and 1930s affected their purchases.102 The majority of the book is about art societies, dealers and galleries and private patrons.103

There is, however, one external source of critical comment on the AGNSW’s purchases – the newspapers. On Christmas Day, 1876 an anonymous writer wrote about the Gallery’s latest purchases104 in an article entitled Additions to the Art Gallery. His text included:

The last addition to the galley is an immense painting in oils; by F. Madox Brown, “Chaucer reading his poems to John of Gaunt.” On a first inspection one fails to discover the merit of this picture, or to understand why such a large sum as £500 had been paid, for it.

This provoked a number of letters to the editor both criticising and supporting the writer including one from Edward Combes, one of the Trustees (see Chapter 4).105

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Chapter 2 - Notes

1 All Trustees and staff were male during the period covered. The Trustees offered a position as Trustee to Miss Eadith Walker in 1907 (Trustee’s minutes 3rd May 1907, folio 383) but she declined the appointment. Mary Alice Evatt was appointed as first female Trustee in 1943. The first female professional staff member was Paulette Jones, a librarian, who was seconded from the then Public Library of New South Wales in 1959.

2 This includes works that have been deaccessioned as well as the current collection.

3 While the Trustees made the final decision on all purchases, at times Gallery staff (e.g. Montefiore and Mann) would select works knowing that their choices would be accepted. Mann purchased works when he visited the exhibition of British paintings in Auckland in 1913 and in 1914 he was commissioned to purchase works of art found suitable when he went to England. Similarly in 1926, while he cabled the Trustees about the works he purchased in Italy, he did not request permission. Mins 11/3161, 21st Nov 1913, Folio 327, Mins 11/3161, 27th Feb 1914, Folio 347 and Mins 11/3163, 23rd Julu

4 All publication dates in this and the following paragraphs have been obtained from Susan P Casteras, John Ruskin and the Victorian Eye, pp. 211 - 213.

5 Susan P Casteras. John Ruskin and the Victorian Eye, p. 213.

6 Kevin Jackson, The worlds of John Ruskin, p. 36.

7 John Ruskin and Kenneth Clark. Ruskin Today, p. xiii.

8 His writings on political economy would not have found favour with the self-made men who were amongst the Trustees.

9 John Ruskin, St. Mark's Rest; p. 3. Another of Ruskin’s attitudes is found in the book’s subtitle: The history of Venice written for the help of the few travellers who still care for her monuments.

10 John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, p. 8.

11 John Ruskin and Kenneth Clark. Ruskin Today, pp. 133, 134.

12 Tinker, in his introduction to these lectures states: These lectures contain much of his best and most mature thought, of his most painstaking research and keenest analysis. John Ruskin and Chauncey Brewster Tinker, Selections from the Works of John Ruskin, p. 232.

13 John Ruskin and Chauncey Brewster Tinker, Selections from the Works of John Ruskin, p. 243.

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14 Montefiore would certainly have known Smith from his Melbourne days. Ann-Mari Jordens, 'Smith, James (1820–1910)', ADB. . Viewed 20th Mar 2013.

15 Clark states that Ruskin’s first recorded utterance at the age of five was a sermon starting with People, be good. John Ruskin and Kenneth Clark, Ruskin Today, p. xiv.

16 John Ruskin and Kenneth Clark, Ruskin Today, p. xv.

17 Barrie (born 1953) was a diplomat at the time of editing Modern Painters. He later became an arts administrator and has been a Trustee of the Ruskin Foundation since 1996. David Barrie, National Portrait Gallery website. . Viewed 10th Feb 2012.

18 John Ruskin and David Barrie, Modern Painters. Abridged edition, Andre Deutsch, London, 1987, p. xvi.

19 Ruskin’s well known statement about Whistler for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face is a good indication of his view of such works.

20 Nicholas Penny, ‘Seeing through Fuller’, London Review of Books’, Volume11, No. 7, 30th March 1989. 21 The Minutes do not record which works were to be purchased. Mins 11/3157, 29th June 1881, Folio 80.

22 David Scott Mitchell is mainly known as a collector of Australiana but he also collected many other books especially up to the mid 1880s. His collection was the foundation of the Mitchell Library, the Australiana and rare book collection of today’s State Library of New South Wales. G. D. Richardson, 'Mitchell, David Scott (1836–1907)’, ADB, . Viewed 12th Jan 2103.

23 Eileen Chanin, Cultural philanthropy, David Scott Mitchell and the Mitchell Library, pp. 216, 218.

24 This can be found readily by searching the State Library of New South Wales printed books catalogue with the keyword DSM/7. This produces a list of books whose Dewy number starts with 7 (i.e. including art books) and those that have been provenanced to Mitchell (DSM).

25 Especially from the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879-80.

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26 Ruskin only wrote the preface to Story of Ida. It was written by Francesca Alexander (1837 – 1917), one of the female artists Ruskin championed. Whether this is miscataloging or a deliberate ploy by the auctioneer to help sell this work is unknown.

27 Catalogue of the Library and Furniture of the Hon. Sir Henry Parkes, G.C.M.G. Removed from His Residence, ‘Kenilworth’, p. 32.

28 Purchases and presentations made between 1876 - 1935, p. 117.

29 Martha Rutledge, 'Woolley, Emmeline Mary Dogherty (1843–1908)', ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

30 It also has Du Faur’s and the AGNSW’s bookplates. John Ruskin, Lectures on Architecture and Painting delivered at Edinburgh in November 1853.

31 ‘Richard Muther’, Dictionary of Art Historians website.

32 Mins 11/3158, 21st May 1896, Folio. 280.

33 Richard Muther, Chapter XIX - The Military Picture, The History of Modern Painting, Volume 2, pp. 128 to 156.

34 Richard Muther, Chapter XXIX – Realism in England, The History of Modern Painting, Volume 2, pp. 560 to 608.

35 It was the opinions of the Trustees that mattered primarily. However the various Directors did provide input to buying decisions. Gother Mann, the Director, purchased works during his trip to Europe prior to World War I.

36 Sidney Hutchison, The History of the Royal Academy 1768-1968, p. 44.

37 Sidney Hutchison, The History of the Royal Academy 1768-1968. Hutchison was the Academy’s Librarian and the then President, Sir Thomas Monnington wrote the Foreword, pp. 15, 16.

38 Sidney Hutchison, The History of the Royal Academy 1768-1968, p. 43.

39 Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Compete Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904 and Royal Academy of Arts. Royal Academy Exhibitors, 1905-1970: A Dictionary of Artists and Their Work in the Summer Exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts.

40 It does not say whether the type of artist was supplied by the RA or the artists themselves. AGNSW Trustee Edward Combes was primarily an engineer and politician. He exhibited one work in 1885 and is listed as Artist.

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41 It is signed and dated: E W Cooke March 1842.

42 Cooke was elected an ARA in 1851 and a RA in 1863. Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Compete Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904, Volume 2, p. 129.

43 The first AGNSW catalogue, produced by Greenwood Stephen, in 1883 states that Gow’s Jacobite Proclamation was Bought by Sir Henry Parkes, from the walls of the Academy exhibition, at the instigation of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales

44 ‘The Art Gallery - I,’ SMH, 15th Nov 1879, p. 3.

45 ‘The International Exhibition Commission’, SMH, 15th Mar 1879, p. 3.

46 About 100 foreign oils were acquired in the first 20 years of the AGNSW’s existence. In the following 40 years only 60 were acquired. See later chapters for details.

47 Purchases and presentations made between 1876 - 1935, Trustee minutes and AGNSW catalogues up to 1928.

48 A dictionary of painters only goes to 1800 while another dictionary covering the period up to 1920 only includes ceramic artists and those working with porcelain, glass and enamels. Pierre Sanchez, Dictionnaire des artistes exposant dans les salons des XVII et XVIIIeme siecles a Paris et en province, 1673- 1800 and Pierre Sanchez, Dictionnaire des ceramistes, peintres sur porcelaine, verre et email, verriers et emailleurs, exposant dans les salons, expositions universelles, industrielles, d'art decoratif, et des manufactures nationales, 1700- 1920.

49 The painting is called Cavalry Charge in this notice. ‘The Sydney Art Gallery’, SMH, 24th Dec 1892, p. 9.

50 Despite this their first acquisition was a commission for a Conrad Martens watercolour. See Chapter 4.

51 Heather Johnston, Part 3, Dealers and Private Galleries, The Sydney art patronage system, 1840 - 1940, pp. 62 – 123.

52 These included David Jones, Farmers and Anthony Hordern & Sons. Heather Johnston, Part 3, Chapter 3, The Department Store Galleries, The Sydney art patronage system, 1840 - 1940, pp. 86 – 103.

53 ‘British Art – A splendid exhibition’, SMH, 19th Apr 1933, p. 10.

54 These are the current names. Some have changed their names since their inception.

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55 The Oxford University Museum of Natural History was strongly influenced by the ideas of John Ruskin, who believed that architecture should be shaped by the energies of the natural world. The architecture of the Museum website.

56 National Gallery of Canada – History website, . Viewed 2nd Feb 2012.

57 The first work in the collection was acquired in 1827 by the Royal Manchester Institution and transferred to the Gallery in 1882. Manchester Art Gallery: History of the Collection, website, . Viewed 2nd Feb 2012.

58 Past and Present - The Dunedin Public Art Gallery website, , Viewed 2 Feb 2012.

59 Thomas Greenwood, Museums and art galleries. The book also includes a number of peripheral sections including the text of ‘Museum Lecture on sparrow like birds’ by J J Ogle, Curator, Bootle Museum, pp. 378 – 387 and Acts of Parliament covering libraries and museums, pp. 391 – 414

60 Thomas Greenwood, Museums and art galleries, pp. 4, 5.

61 The University Museum became the Nicholson Museum while the Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum was the forerunner of the Powerhouse Museum.

62 Thomas Greenwood, Museums and art galleries, p. 5.

63 The rationale of art galleries may be epitomised under a few leading heads, the first of which is that they place us in direct communication with some of the best thoughts and feelings of highly gifted people, and this by means of the quickest of the five senses. Pictures again, not only give us the records of the past and the present, but help us to gain an intimate knowledge of some of the best lives lived by men and women. As a third point there may be given the fact that there is always something more to be learned from a picture than the picture itself can tell us.

Pictures thus become powerful aids in education, as well as giving pleasure and restfulness in the mind.

Thomas Greenwood, Museums and art galleries, p. 10.

64 Thomas Greenwood, ‘Chapter XI – The Sunday Opening of Museums’, Museums and art galleries, pp. 196 – 209.

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65 The AGNSW advertised on 10th January 1881 that it would be open daily. ‘Art Gallery of New South Wales’, SMH, 11 Jan 1881, p. 2.

66 Unfortunately he does not include any information as to why he believes Australian museums are ahead of those in England. Thomas Greenwood, ‘Why should every Town have a museum?’ - 17 points, Museums and art galleries, pp. 389 – 390.

67 Arthur MacGregor, Curiosity and Enlightenment: Collectors and Collections from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century.

68 It was founded in 1811. Arthur MacGregor, Curiosity and Enlightenment: Collectors and Collections from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century, pp. 99 – 100.

69 Des Griffin and Leon Paroissien (Eds), Understanding Museums: Australian Museum and Museology website, . Viewed 11th May 2012.

70 It states that it is a history of museums in Australia since the 1970s. Des Griffin and Leon Paroissien (Eds), Understanding Museums: Australian Museum and Museology website, . Viewed 11th May 2012.

71 Andrew Montana, The Art Movement in Australia: Design, Taste and Society 1875-1900.

72 It was purchased from the Art Society of NSW exhibition in 1890. Andrew Montana, The Art Movement in Australia: Design, Taste and Society 1875-1900, p. 39.

73 Andrew Montana, The Art Movement in Australia: Design, Taste and Society 1875-1900, p. 170.

74 National Gallery of Australia and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

75 This was done by initially emailing these galleries requesting information. A search for relevant theses and other publications was later carried out using Trove and other websites.

76 Works examined included:

Elwyn Lynn and Laura Murray, Considering art in Tasmania. This reprint of an Art and Australia article covered both the collections of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston.

Mervyn Horton and David Thomas, (Eds), Art Gallery of South Australia 1881 – 1981.

Radford, Ron, Island to Empire: 300 Years of British Art; 1550 - 1850, Also about the Art Gallery of South Australia collection.

Janet Hogan, Souvenir: Queensland Art Gallery collection.

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Janda Gooding, Western Australian Art and Artists 1900-1950.

Hendrik Kolenberg, The First fifteen years Acquisitions to 1911. Also about the WA collection.

77 Leonard B Cox, The National Gallery of Victoria 1861 to 1968 A Search for a Collection.

78 Ann Galbally, The Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria

79 Quoted in Ann Galbally, The Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, p 14.

80 In the 1870s Barry wrote to Ruskin for assistance in selecting works for the NGV. Ruskin recommended three small watercolours before he lost interest. Ann Galbally, The Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, p 22.

81 Herkomer was a leading English social realist painter who was born in Bavaria in 1849. . Galbally states he was an advisor for a few short years. Ann Galbally, The Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, p 30.

82 Now called the Ian Potter Museum of Art.

83 This catalogue includes a table showing the dates for the foundation of the state galleries. Ann Galbally (Ed), The First Collections: The Public Library and the National Gallery of Victoria in the 1850s and the 1860s.

84 J R Poynter, Mr Felton’s Bequests.

85 He was Director of the AGNSW from 1929 to 1936.

86 See Chapter 13. J R Poynter, Mr Felton’s Bequests, p 223 onwards.

87 Betty Snowden, Policies, personalities and politics: Modern French Art and the National Gallery of Victoria 1860 – 1940.

88 History of the Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery of New South Wales website, . Viewed 31st Mar 2011.

89 This was in the building used to display artworks at the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition. It was handed over to the Trustees by the NSW Government earlier in 1880.

90 This address, along with other information about the opening was reported in SMH the following day. The reporter, unlike Sir Alfred, mentioned four paintings by name. ‘The Art Gallery of New South Wales’, SMH, Sydney 23 September 1880, p. 3.

91 These catalogues are listed in the Bibliography.

92 The manuscript is not dated so this date is assumed as Missingham was talking about purchases made in 1958.

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93 This review has, to date, not been traced.

94 Hal Missingham, The History of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Lecture given 28/4/1970 to Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney AGNSW, Sydney, n.d. (1970) typescript manuscript, p. 1

95. Art Gallery of New South Wales Special Number, Art and Australia, Sydney, Volume 10, Number 1, pp. 36, 40 – 84.

96 Art Gallery of New South Wales Picturebook, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1972, pp. 3 - 4.

97 Portrait of a Gallery, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

98 Noel S Hutchison, The Establishment of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Politics and Taste.

99 Cecilia Alfonso, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Changing Shape, Changing Functions, 1871 - 1987.

100 This was based on a MA thesis completed nine years earlier in 1988. Heather Johnston, The Sydney Art patronage system, 1840 – 1940.

101 Heather Johnston, Part 1, Chapter 2, ‘The London Connection’, The Sydney Art Patronage System, 1840 – 1940, pp. 14 - 20.

102 Heather Johnston, Part 1, Chapter 5, ‘The Trustees and Modern Art’, The Sydney Art Patronage System, 1840 – 1940, pp. 30 - 37.

103 Including James McGregor, a Trustee from 1929 to 1958. Heather Johnston, Part 4, Chapter 4, ‘James McGregor’, The Sydney Art Patronage System, 1840 – 1940, pp. 142 - 150.

104 ‘Additions to the Art Gallery’, SMH, Sydney, 25 Dec 1876: p. 5.

105 Combes was a Member of Parliament as well as a Trustee. ‘Additions to the Art Gallery - To the Editor of the Herald’, SMH, Sydney 30th Dec 1876: p. 8.

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Chapter 3 - The beginnings of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Cecilia Alfonso, in her BA thesis on the history of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, states there are four dates that can be used as the foundation date for the Gallery.1 As far as the collection is concerned there is only one date and that is 4th March 1874, when the NSW parliament voted £500 Towards the formation of a gallery of art in connection with the Museum.2 In July of the same year, however, the vote was transferred from the Australian Museum3 to the New South Wales Academy of Art.

This initial vote was to be used by members of the Academy to purchase art works for New South Wales. In the same month, the New South Wales government appointed five men4, all Councillors of the New South Wales Academy of Art, to manage and administer the vote.

Before we can look at the spending of this vote we need to examine Sydney in the 1870s and the role of the New South Wales Academy of Art.

Sydney in the 1870s

In 1871 Sydney was 83 years old. While Melbourne was only founded in 1835, its population had surpassed Sydney’s by the beginning of the 1860s. This was a result of the gold rush in Victoria. In the years 1852 to 1854 approximately 270,000 people arrived in Melbourne.5 While most would go straight to the goldfields and a number soon left the colony, many stayed or returned from the diggings making Melbourne the largest city in Australia.

Sydney, however, was catching up during this period. The convict settlement of Sydney Town had turned into a flourishing city by the 1860s.

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In the 1860s, Sydney and Melbourne's population growth was similar. Between 1861 and 1871 Sydney grew by 43% while Melbourne’s population growth was a slightly slower 38.5%. In the 1870s and 1880s, Sydney’s population growth (67.3% between 1871 and 1881 and 70% between 1881 and 1891) exceeded that of Melbourne (46.1% and 57.4% respectively). Melbourne’s growth was accompanied by a land boom which collapsed in the early 1890s. By mid 1892 twenty-one financial companies in Melbourne were in difficulties.6 This resulted in a depression which, while affecting other parts of Australia, was worst in Melbourne. Between 1891 and 1901 Sydney’s population growth (29.6%) was more than double that of Melbourne’s (11.5%). As a result Sydney’s population finally exceeded Melbourne’s by the beginning of the twentieth century (See Table 1).

Year Sydney Sydney % Melbourne Melbourne increase % increase 1861 93,700 n/a 139,900 n/a 1871 134,000 43.0% 193,700 38.5% 1881 224,200 67.3% 282,900 46.1% 1891 383,400 71.0% 445,200 57.4% 1901 497,000 29.6% 496,100 11.5% Table 2 – Sydney and Melbourne population 1861 - 19017

In the period from the 1860s to the early 1890s there was a large increase in Sydney’s industry. The number and variety of industries increased with many of Sydney’s businessmen being involved in a range of enterprises. Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, who was to chair the inaugural meeting of the New South Wales Academy of Art, was one of them.8 Best known for his dry dock at Balmain, Mort’s business interests included being a director of the Sydney Railway Co., a wool auctioneer and broker, providing finance to pastoralists, building a tin-smelting works at Balmain and a cold store at Darling Harbour.

Outside Sydney, he also owned pastoral properties, was a director of the Peak Downs Copper Mining Co. (Queensland) and the Waratah Coal Mining Co. (Newcastle). His other interests included a slaughtering and chilling works in the Blue Mountains and milk depots in the Southern Tablelands.

This industrial development was matched by similar growth in public utilities and transport in Sydney.

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A number of Sydney’s iconic sandstone civic buildings were built during this period. These included the Sydney Town Hall (1868 - 1888), the College Street extensions to the original Australian Museum building (1864 - 1868), the enlarged Customs House (1887), the General Post Office (1866 - 1891) and the Great Synagogue (1878). St Andrews Cathedral was consecrated in 1868 and the main wing of Sydney Hospital (1880 – 1894) and the Queen Victoria Building (1893 – 1898) were built.9

Along with this growth of Sydney came an increase in people who were interested in the arts. There had been previous associations of people interested in the arts. The first recorded in Sydney is the Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts which was founded in May 1847 and held its first exhibition within a month.10

Melbourne, however, was seen as more advanced than Sydney in regard to the arts with the National Gallery of Victoria being opened on 24 May 1861.11 This was housed within the new Public Library on Swanston Street (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 - The National Picture Gallery at the Public Library, Melbourne. From Australian News for Home Readers, 25th Jan 1865, p. 8. In January 1870, the Victorian Academy of Art was founded.12 Writing about its inaugural meeting, the anonymous author of the Our Melbourne Letter in the SMH expressed his wish Is it not time that New South Wales did something to lessen the distance between this colony and herself in the matter of literature and the arts?13

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He then goes on to say that not only does Melbourne have a Gallery of Sculpture and another of Paintings but these are perpetually enlarging and accumulating and it will take New South Wales a long time to overtake us, even if she exhibit tenfold the earnestness she does at present.

NSW Academy of Arts

The New South Wales Academy of Art started with a public meeting on 24 April 1871. In that day’s SMH, the following notice appeared:

We have been requested to call attention to a meeting, advertised to take place at 4 o'clock this afternoon in the hall of the Mechanics' School of Arts, in Pitt-street, at which all gentlemen favourable to the establishment of an Academy of Art in New South Wales have been invited to be present.14

The following day, a full report appeared in the SMH stating approximately 35 gentlemen attended the meeting. Thomas Sutcliffe Mort was appointed to the chair. He thanked Edward Reeve, the Curator of the University Museum, for calling the meeting but said he was disappointed that so few people had attended. He then called on Reeve to address the meeting. Reeve’s speech15, was reported in full in the SMH and included the following:

Although I do not pretend to be anything more than a humble student of art, I have always been very deeply impressed with the material importance of art, and the elevating and ennobling tendency of all studies connected therewith upon the human mind. … and nothing can possibly exercise a more powerful educational agency than art, in all its manifold developments. … Painting, sculpture, architecture, and other subsidiary departments of art, are studies which men cannot follow without great social and intellectual improvement and advantage – not merely to themselves, but to the community in which those men live who give themselves unreservedly to such pursuits.

Here, in Australia, we have clear and resplendent skies that might task the artistic, imitative skill of a Claude, und magnificent scenery nowhere to be surpassed - such as might properly serve to kindle the aspirations of Genius; a felicitous coincidence that has already created a school of landscape painters, of which we have good reason to be proud.

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His speech was greeted with cheers and a Mr J A C Willis moved a motion that a society be set up:

for the Promotion of the Study of the various departments of the Fine Arts, and for periodical exhibitions of works of Art in Sydney, and that such society consist of artists and other gentlemen taking an interest in Art.

Reeves however expressed the opinion that there were too few people present and he thought that a minimum of fifty should be present to proceed. At this point Eliezer Levi Montefiore (see Figure 5) stated that he was one of those who had assisted in founding the Victorian Academy of Arts (sic) and … that that society commenced with only twenty-five members.16 While Montefiore’s name is not listed in the article about the first meeting of the Victorian Academy of Art, he was elected to its Council the following month.17

Montefiore added that a committee should be established to draw up the rules and regulations of the proposed society. He then formally moved that a committee should be set up. This proposal was passed unanimously and the New South Wales Academy of Art was created with Reeve as Secretary of its first committee.18

Three weeks later, the New South Wales Academy of Art had its first general meeting which was attended by approximately 150 ladies and gentlemen.19 At this meeting the rules and regulations proposed by the committee were approved. The director of the Botanic Gardens, Charles Moore, pointed out that ladies should be allowed to join and this amendment was readily accepted by those present.

Figure 5 - Eliezer Levi Montefiore. From Illustrated Sydney News, 27th Oct 1894. He had died five days before.

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At this meeting, Professor Badham spoke about why Reeve had proposed the setting up of the Academy. He referred to Reeve’s work as curator of the Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Mediaeval Museum of Sydney University (now the Nicholson Museum) where he had seen how mankind had progressed from making flint implements to creating the art of the Roman and Greek periods. Badham said that this had inspired Reeve to have the idea of an Academy of Art.

While this speech was very romantic, the influence of Montefiore appears to be ignored. As Badham was the University of Sydney’s Professor of Classics, he was perhaps favouring one of his own. The creation of the Academy was certainly partly due to Montefiore in more ways than one. His experience as one of the founders of the Victorian Academy of Art and his appointment as a trustee of the Public Library Museum and Art Gallery in Melbourne provided him with the background to help found the Academy. Without his insistence to have the Academy inaugurated at this first meeting, it may not have progressed as quickly as it did.

The Academy started arranging exhibitions. By 1874, it had arranged exhibitions of colonial art, held a number of conversaziones, and built up a collection of casts for use by students. In 1876, it acquired meeting and exhibition rooms in Elizabeth Street.20 Its activities are well documented in its annual reports produced up to 1880.21

The gentlemen of the Academy The SMH listed many, but not all, of the attendees of the first two meetings of the New South Wales Academy of Art. Approximately 25 were present at the meeting held on 24th April 1871 where the Academy was created. The second meeting, held on 15th May 1871, can be considered as the first general meeting.

An examination of the occupations22 of those attending the meeting shows that there were three categories of men present. There were no working people as having a meeting at 4 pm on a Monday would exclude them. The three categories were professionals and businessmen, artists and those holding cultural and/or artistic positions.

The majority were professionals and business men. They included barristers, engineers, industrialists, insurance executives and others. There are only three artists mentioned by name: Lewis Steffanoni, William McLeod and Alexander Habbe. Those involved in educational artistic and cultural organisations included Charles Moore, the Director of the Botanic Garden and, of course, Edward Reeve.

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However what brought all these men together was an interest in art - whether it was practising, collecting23 or art education. This mixture of business and the arts has remained to this day in Sydney with the current Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales including both business people and artists.24

Appendix A has a list of the recorded attendees of the first two meetings of the Academy.

The first vote

The 4th March 1874 vote of £500 by the NSW Parliament to form a gallery of art within the Australian Museum reflected the Melbourne model where the library, museum and art gallery were one organisation; however this was not to be in Sydney. This integrated institution was foreshadowed in October 1873 when the SMH listed the estimates for the following year when the Museum vote was doubled from £500 to £1000.25 In July 1874, this first vote of £500 to purchase artworks was transferred to the New South Wales Academy of Art.

Another reason which could have influenced Parliament to transfer the funds was that the Australian Museum was not in favour with the government. On 24th February 1874, before the March vote of £500, Walter Cooper26, a Member of the Legislative Assembly, moved that a select committee be appointed to enquire into and report upon the condition and system of management of Sydney Museum. On 18th May the select committee reported and its findings were debated in the Assembly on 16th June. During this debate charges and counter charges about the museum’s Trustees and curator were raised. One of the recommendations was that the curator be made responsible to a Minister of the Crown and the Trustees be replaced by a Board of Visitors who could report on the operation of the Museum but would not have any power to interfere in its management. Another recommendation was that provision be made for an Academy of Art and Technological Museum. This is a strange recommendation given the Academy had been running for over three years at this time. Perhaps the point of this motion meant that the Academy should become a government body.

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If the Academy of Art started lobbying for the money soon after the March vote, this cannot be confirmed as there are no letters or minutes extant recording this. However, the fact that both Stephen and Combes were both members of the Academy’s Council and the NSW Parliament could have helped with the decision to transfer the funds to the Academy. Fourteen days after the debate in Parliament the Academy of Art held a council meeting and decided to send a deputation to the Minister.27 At this meeting, held on 7th July, they discussed using part of the Museum for an art training school.28 They also asked if the £500 could be used for the school but the Minister said that it could not be used for this purpose.29 At this meeting they asked about how the £500 could be used and the Minister invited the deputation to send him the Council’s views. One event that could have helped the Minister decide to transfer the vote to the Academy was that the Australian Museum was currently closed, under police guard and an inventory was underway. This was a result of the museum curator, Johann Krefft, refusing to hand over the keys and the minute book after he was dismissed by the Trustees.30

The Academy of Art held another Council meeting on 17th July. Only Sir Alfred Stephen, J H Thomas, Du Faur, Howard Reed and William Wallace were present. Thomas31 put forward a minute to the meeting where he proposed that good copies of old Masters should form the nucleus of the proposed Gallery. The meeting resolved to accept this approach. Montefiore, after he heard about this decision about copies, wrote to Du Faur stating I have always set my face against the purchase of copies and would at any time rather see one good original than a dozen of copies.32 As a result of this, the Council had a special meeting on 23rd July. The minutes do not indicate what discussions took place but the previous decision about copies was replaced by one saying that water colours would be selected. Howard Reed proposed an amendment saying that one good oil painting should be purchased for £500 instead. However this amendment was not accepted so the Council resolved to buy water colours. At this meeting it was also proposed that selectors be appointed in London and that the Council of the Academy would also buy works locally if they were of sufficient merit.33

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Following the meeting, on the 25th July, Du Faur wrote to the Minister stating:

… the Council of the “New South Wales Academy of Art” have (sic) carefully considered the question as the appropriation of the £500 voted by Parliament for Art purposes.

The Council would have been glad to have seen a portion of that sum devoted to “Art Instruction”, but as you have informed them that according to the terms of the vote this cannot be done they have come to the following conclusion, that, inasmuch as the sum voted is too small for the purchase of Original Oil Paintings, and inasmuch as one of the chief objects of a Gallery is for the purposes of instruction, and the majority of those who cultivate art in this Colony only paint in watercolors (sic), it would be advisable that the amount be expended in the purchase of Original Watercolor (sic) Drawings by living artists, leaving the question of purchasing Oil Paintings to be considered when larger sums may be placed at their disposal by Parliament.

For the purpose of carrying out this suggestion the council have (sic) the honour to recommend that the amount voted be placed in the hands of Trustees, who should be empowered to designate a committee of selection in London to effect purchases to be forwarded from time to time through the Agent General – and that such Trustees should further be empowered to invest any portion of the amount in the Colony should they deem it advisable.34

The Minister had his Under Secretary reply on 30th July agreeing with the Council’s suggestion. In the same letter, he asked if Du Faur, together with Sir Alfred Stephen, Edward Coombes (sic), Eliezer Montefiore and James Reading Fairfax, would be willing to act as Trustees to administer the funds.35 They all accepted.

They met as Trustees for the first time on Tuesday 4th August at the Pacific Insurance Co in Pitt Street (Montefiore’s office). They resolved to appoint Sir Alfred Stephen as Chairman and asked Du Faur to be Honorary Secretary of the Trustees.36 At the same meeting they resolved to ask Nicholas Chevalier and Colin MacKay Smith to become a Selection Committee in London for the investment in original Water color (sic) drawings.37

The £500 vote was split with £420 to be sent to the Agent General in London to pay for any purchases made by the Selection Committee and £50 was to be set apart for the purchase of a painting by Mr Conrad Martens if Martens agreed.38 This left £30 remaining to the Trustees.

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The Art Gallery of New South Wales was now formed with Trustees, selectors and funds but, at this point, no collection. They also had a defacto collections policy - Original Watercolor Drawings (see above). However the second work39 acquired did not conform to this policy. Not adhering strictly to a stated collection policy continues in the twenty-first century.40

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Chapter 3 - Notes

1 Alfonso does not quote dates: she states 117, 114, 103 or 89 years ago. As she was writing in 1988, the dates (and events) are 1871 (founding of the New South Wales Academy of Art), 1874 (the first vote of funds to purchase artworks and appointment of Trustees), 1885 (the first building on the current site) and 1899 (the date of the first Art Gallery Act). Cecilia Alfonso, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Changing Shape, Changing Functions, 1871 - 1987, p. 1.

2 ‘Legislative Assembly.’ SMH, 5th Mar 1874, p. 2. This records the passing of the estimate.

3 Founded as the Sydney Museum in 1827, it was renamed the Australian Museum in 1836. Both names were used interchangeably for some years afterwards. Ronald Strahan, Rare and curious specimens : an illustrated history of the Australian Museum, 1827-1979, p. 7, 14, 15.

4 All Trustees were male until March 1943 – See footnote in Chapter 2 – Literature review.

5 The History of the City of Melbourne, p. 21.

6 The History of the City of Melbourne, p. 24.

7 The percentages for each decade have been calculated by this writer. The figures are from Jan Lahmeyer, Population statistics; Australia; historical demographical data of the urban centers. The Sydney and Melbourne (1861 only) figures, with minor variations, are also in Max Kelly (Ed.), Nineteenth –Century Sydney: Essays in Urban History, p. 68 and The History of the City of Melbourne, p. 21 respectively.

8 Alan Barnard, ‘Mort, Thomas Sutcliffe (1816–1878)’, ADB, . Viewed 4th Sep 2011.

9 City of Sydney: Historic buildings, Council of the City of Sydney website, . Viewed 22nd Aug 2011.

10. This gives notice of a public meeting to set up a Society to hold art exhibitions. ‘Advertising.’ SMH, 18th May 1847, p. 1.

11 This was on Queen Victoria’s birthday. Phip Murray, The NGV story: a celebration of 150 years, p. 9.

12 ‘Tuesday, January 18, 1870’. The Argus, 18th Jan 1870, p. 5.

13 This colony is Victoria. ‘Our Melbourne Letter.’, SMH, 22nd Jan 1870: p. 7.

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14 ‘New South Wales Academy of Art’, SMH, 24th Apr 1871, p. 4.

15 All the following quotes and information about the meeting come from this article. ‘New South Wales Academy of Art’, SMH, 25th Apr 1871, p. 5.

16 This article states about 20, however Montefiore’s name is not listed. ‘Tuesday, January 18, 1870’. The Argus, 18th Jan 1870, p. 5.

17 ‘Thursday, February 10, 1870.’ The Argus, Melbourne, 10th Feb 1870, p. 4.

18 The first committee consisted of Mr T S Mort, Mr District Judge Josephson, Mr. J. A. C. Willis, Mr. W. G. Pennington, Mr Steffanoni, Mr. E. L. Montefiore, Mr. S. Lyons, Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, Dr. J. S. Paterson, Mr. W McLeod, Mr. Anderson, Mr. James R Fairfax, Mr C. E. Pilcher, Mr T Hodgson and Mr. Edward Reeve.

19 No names of ladies are recorded in any of the press reports. ‘New South Wales Academy of Art’, SMH, 16th May 1871: p. 3.

20 The first works acquired by the AGNSW were exhibited here until the first art gallery building opened in 1880.

21 Annual Reports of the New South Wales Academy of Art. Nine were produced, the first in 1872 and the last in 1880.

22 The occupations were largely found by examining entries in Design and Art Australia Online and the Australian Dictionary of Biography. However, not all attendees have entries in either of these two sources. One or two occupations, such as that that of J. H. Thomas and Charles Bell, were found by examining articles or letters to the editor and comparing the information. Thomas was found by comparing addresses in letters to the editor of the Herald. Bell was referred to as Mr. Francis Bell, C. E. in the Herald’s report of 25th Apr 1871. The Herald on 11th Sep 1879 reported the death of Francis Bell, the City Engineer of the City of Sydney.

23 Mort’s collection was well known in Sydney. After an overseas trip in 1857-59, he extended his house to include an art gallery. This, along with his garden, was open to the public.

24 The Art Gallery of New South Wales Act 1980 specifies not less than two shall be knowledgeable and experienced in the visual arts.

25 The sum of £10,000 for the Free Public Library, Art Gallery, and Technological Museum, in connection with the Australian Museum was also included in the loan estimates for the Colonial Architect. ‘The Estimates’, SMH, 16th Oct 1873, p. 5.

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26 Walter Hampson Cooper, a barrister and journalist, was a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1873 to 1874. ‘Legislative Assembly.’, SMH, 24th Feb 1874, p. 3. Bede Nairn, ‘Cooper, Walter Hampson (1842 - 1880)’, ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

27 The Minister’s correct title until 1880 was Minister of Justice and Public Instruction although some Academy of Art documents refer to him as Minister of Justice and Education or Minister of Education. The title Minister of Education was not adopted until 1925.

28 The Minister tells the Council that they need to get permission from the Museum’s Trustees if they wish to use the Museum’s premises. This report does not mention that they cannot use the vote of £500 for art training. ‘Art Training School.’, SMH, 8th Jul 1874, p. 4.

29 A letter from Du Faur to the Minister dated 25th Jul 1874 states The Council would have been glad to have seen a portion of that sum devoted to “Art Instruction’, but as you have informed them that according to the terms of the vote this cannot be done. NSWAA records, Folios 27, 28.

30 ‘The Australian Museum’, SMH, 8 Jul 1874, p. 4.

31 Thomas was a railway engineer and appears to have been a dogmatic character. His occupation was been established by a letter from him criticising the Commissioner of Railways. It has the same address as his letter to the SMH about copies of old masters. ‘Tank Engines’, SMH, 24th Sep 1873: ‘National Gallery of Art.’, SMH, 21st Nov 1874, p. 4.

32 Letter from Montefiore to Du Faur, 18th Jul 1874, NSWAA records, Folios 24a, 24b, 24c.

33 Minutes of Council Meeting, 23rd Jul 1874, NSWAA records, Folios 25, 29.

34 Letter, Du Faur to Minister of Minister of Justice & Education (sic), 25th Jul 1874, NSWAA records, Folios 27, 28.

35 Letter, Under-Secretary of Justice and Public Instruction to Du Faur, 30th Jul 1874, NSWAA records, Folio 33.

36 This, the information about the selectors and use of the vote is from Minutes of Council Meeting, 4th Aug 1874’, NSWAA records, Folios 631 and 633.

37 They both accepted. Letter, Chevalier to Montefiore, 2nd Oct 1874, NSWAA records, Folio 636b and Letter, Smith to Montefiore’, 30th Sep 1874, NSWAA records, Folio 636.

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38 Martens accepted in a letter dated 21st August 1874. Martens warned Du Faur that it would take three months to produce this work as he had so little time at my own disposal. Letter, Conrad Martens to Du Faur’, NSWAA records, Folios 36c (page 1), 36a (page 2).

39 It was an oil painting by W C Piguenit bought by subscribers and presented to the Gallery. The subscribers included the Trustees.

40 On 22nd October 2010, the SMH reported that Kenneth Reed, a retired Sydney lawyer, decided to bequeath European works worth $7 million to the AGNSW. The collection comprises 25 oil paintings and 46 ceramics. The section of the AGNSW Collections Policy covering Western Art written by Tony Bond only refers to paintings, sculpture, watercolours, prints and photographs. There is no mention of ceramics. While this document is undated, it was current on 14th October 2009. From earliest days, the AGNSW acquired European ceramics but they have mainly been deaccessioned, including many which have been transferred to the Powerhouse Museum.

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Chapter 4 - The Montefiore years: 1874 - 1894 This chapter discusses the personalities involved in the early years of the AGNSW and the acquisition of oil paintings from 1874 to 1894 when the first Director, Eliezer Levi Montefiore died.

The AGNSW did not include the word National in its title until 1883 when its name was changed to the National Art Gallery of New South Wales thereby distinguishing it from any other collection of works of art and recognising its claims as in fact a National Collection of such Works.1

The Trustees

The first five Trustees, Stephen (see Figure 6), Montefiore, Du Faur, Fairfax and Combes were respectively a lawyer2, insurance manager, land agent, newspaper publisher and engineer/ pastoralist. The first professional artist appointed as a Trustee was Julian Rossi Ashton in 1889.3

Figure 6 – Sir Alfred Stephen. From Illustrated News for Home Readers, 31st Dec 1873, p. 220.

Why did the Government appoint businessmen or politicians rather than professional artists? The New South Wales Government saw the major role of the Trustees to have oversight of the spending of the vote rather than choosing art works. The majority of artworks would be obtained by the selectors in London rather than the Trustees, therefore knowledge of art would not be a requirement for a Trustee.4

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The fact, however, that they were not professional artists, does not mean that they did not have their own artistic tastes and prejudices. Two of the five original Trustees have works in the AGNSW collection5 and, apart from Stephen, all would be involved in the selection of works during their time as a Trustee.

On 25th February 1876, the Government appointed a new Board of Trustees.6 Four (Stephen, Montefiore, Du Faur and Fairfax) were from the original Board and the fifth was James Henry Thomas who had advocated the purchase of Old Master copies in 1874. Thomas resigned later that year and Henry Cary Dangar was appointed in his place.7 Edward Combes8, the fifth original Trustee, was in England at the time of these appointments.9

In January 1889, the Art Society’s president, Julian Rossi Ashton, was appointed as a Trustee. This was done by a letter from the Under Secretary for Public Instruction to the Trustees announcing Ashton’s appointment along with Bernhard Ringrose Wise, MP.10 This letter provoked an immediate response from the Trustees. They wrote to the Minster complaining about the new appointments and on 14th January the Under Secretary wrote to Sir Alfred Stephen, the President of the Trustees:

You appear to complain of the recent appointment of two additional Trustees on grounds which cannot for a moment be admitted as sustainable.

The gentlemen to whom reference is made have been selected by the government in the “interests of art” and it is believed that they are both well qualified to render valuable service in that cause.

It has not been the practice to consult the body of existing Trustees as to any additional appointments, … .11

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While the letter from Stephen is not in the AGNSW’s archives there are two letters which shed light on the reasons for the Trustees’ complaints. On 16th January 1889 the Parkes government was replaced by one led by Sir George Dibbs and a new Minister was appointed. Stephen wrote twice to the new Minister12 and in these letters he referred to two reasons for his complaint. The first was procedural stating that while the Minister had the right to appoint new Trustees it was customary to consult the existing Board first. The second complaint was about Ashton pointing out that he not only did he sell his own paintings but he sold them on behalf of other artists. This meant that if he excused himself from the Trustees’ decisions about which paintings were to be acquired because of a possible conflict of interest he would not be able to effectively carry out a role as a Trustee. However, the new Minister upheld the appointments and Stephen’s response was to resign. At the Trustees’ meeting on 30th January the receipt of his resignation letter was minuted and Montefiore was asked to interview him. While the reason is not stated in the minutes, presumably this would be to ask Stephen to reconsider his decision but he did not. Montefiore became President at the next meeting on 20th March 1889.13

In his autobiography Ashton states that his appointment was the result of an unsolicited request from Sir Henry Parkes.14 This is unlikely as Ashton’s lobbying about the Art Gallery is well known from newspaper articles15

Despite changes in Trustees from 1874 to 193516, the majority were always from fields other than the arts. Even when Ashton was appointed, the NSW Government also appointed Bernhard Ringrose Wise, a barrister and politician, at the same time. Changes in Trustees are only mentioned in this thesis when they affected acquisitions and/or they were involved in a dispute.17

Although the Academy of Art and the AGNSW employed staff (e.g. a secretary, attendants, housekeeper, etc.) from when it first opened a gallery, it did not employ a Director until its eighteenth year. In the minutes of meeting held on the 6th September 189218, it states:

Mr E. L. Montefiore announced that having accepted the position of Director of the Gallery he tendered his resignation as President of the Trustees

There is no warning of this event from the previous minutes. It must be assumed that this had been fully discussed with his co-Trustees as his resignation was readily accepted. Du Faur was appointed as President at this meeting.

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Montefiore continued as Director for two years. On 23rd October 1894, the SMH reported that Montefiore has died from cerebral apoplexy the previous day.19

London selectors

In 1874 Nicholas Chevalier and Colin Mackay Smith were appointed as the first London Selection Committee.

Nicholas Chevalier is best known as an artist who lived and worked in Australia from 1855 to 1869.20 He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and the Salon in Paris21 and was a natural choice to be a selector as both the man and his work were well known in Sydney. Montefiore lived in Melbourne from 1853 to 1871 and as they were both active in the small art scene they would have known each other. Chevalier’s Buffalo Ranges was the first Australian painting purchased by the NGV where later Montefiore was a Trustee.

The other selector, Colin MacKay Smith, was a businessman. He was the London manager of the Pacific Insurance Company, the same firm that Montefiore headed in Sydney. Originally from Sydney, he was transferred to the London office in 1870 to make that office profitable.22

As these two selectors were known personally to at least Montefiore it was probably one of the reasons for their success in obtaining works for the AGNSW (it is likely other Trustees knew them as well). It is important to note that they were selectors, not advisors. An advisor would only have the power to recommend works to the Trustees who would make the decision to buy whereas a selector was empowered to purchase without any reference to the Trustees. This later became a point of contention on many occasions.

As the NSW Government appointed non-artists as Trustees, the Trustees similarly continued to appoint non-artists as selectors. Smith, an insurance manager, is not the first person one would think of to determine which art works should be selected for a public art museum. No evidence can be found of any art works created by Smith but his skills and interests would have been well known to Montefiore. Unfortunately there is no written documentation explaining why the Trustees decided to make Smith a selector.23

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In 1875, the Trustees decided to appoint W Cave Thomas24 as an additional selector but did not advise Chevalier and Smith. Edward Combes was in England and was also appointed as a selector. In addition the Trustees decided that the New South Wales Agent General would also be a selector. This meant that the Gallery now had a London Selection committee of five.

On 8 June 1876 Chevalier and Smith wrote to the Agent General resigning from their positions. In this letter they said it was difficult for the selectors to meet, discussions took a long time and they could result in potential disagreements about works of art. However they went to some lengths to ensure that their resignation was no reflection on the other members stating that Our object is exclusively against the enlargement of the committee in point of numbers and altogether excludes any personal element.25 They pointed out that the Victorian Gallery and government had tried a committee of several but now had reverted to a single selector.

The Trustees, the Agent General and the Government discussed this at a number of meetings and in correspondence. In November 1877 it was still unresolved and the Trustees invited Jacob Levi Montefiore, Eliezier’s brother, who had recently gone to England to become a selector.26

This conflict continued for some time and was only resolved in February 187827 when the Trustees decided that the best course was to revert to the original position with Chevalier and Smith only. Later on, Chevalier was more amenable to additional selectors including visiting Trustees with the exception of Henry Dangar (see below).

At the Trustees’ meeting on 10th July 1882, Dangar suggested that G P Slade28 should be considered as a London selector.29 However on 7th August, Dangar reported that Slade appeared disinclined to accept the offer.30 Given the problems with the selectors a few years earlier, the other Trustees probably appreciated Slade’s decision.

Smith resigned as a selector in a letter to the Trustees dated 26th March 1886 where he stated he would be leaving London on 5th June of that year to return to Australia. After Smith’s resignation, the Trustees convened a special meeting on 20 August 1886 to decide on the appointment of a colleague for Chevalier. At this meeting the Trustees decided to appoint Sir Oswald Brierley.

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At a meeting held on 15 March 1887 it was decided to write to Chevalier and Brierley to tell them that Henry Dangar, a Trustee since 1876, was going to England and to ask them to communicate with him about any purchases for the Gallery during his stay in England. At the same meeting Mr Mullens gave notice that he would be moving a motion to appoint Thomas Lane Devitt (see Figure 7) to the London Selection Committee. At the next meeting on 26th April, Mullens moved a motion stating it is desirable to add a third member to the London Selection Committee so as to provide for the absence or indisposition of either of the present members. Devitt was a ship broker. Again the Trustees seem to have doubts about having only artists on the Selection Committee.

Figure 7 – Thomas Lane Devitt. From Clement Jones Sea trading and sea training, E Arnold, London, 1936.

At this meeting, the Secretary was instructed to write to Chevalier and Brierley asking if it would be acceptable to them including the fact that Devitt is well-known to two of the members of the board.31 The lessons from appointing additional selectors in 1876 had apparently been learnt by the Trustees. Unfortunately there is no record of Chevalier’s and Brierley’s reactions, however, they seemed to work well together with Devitt taking on the role of Secretary to the Committee – a task he performed with dedication.32

Brierley retired from the Committee in January 189033 and the Earl of Carlisle34 was appointed in his place. In 1893, Devitt appointed an Arthur H Greening as a paid Secretary for the Committee.35 The three, Devitt, Chevalier and Carlisle, were the London selectors at the time of Montefiore’s death.

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Paris selectors

At the meeting of 20 August 1886 Trustees also appointed an agent in Paris. His job was to confer with the London Selection Committee about purchases on the Continent and to act with them if they visited Paris. This agent was Edouard Levi Montefiore36, the brother of Trustee Eliezer Montefiore.

In May 1890, Edouard Montefiore wrote to his brother about the anomalous condition in which I am placed as selector of pictures to purchase for you in Paris.37 He went on to state that he needed the approval of the London selectors before purchasing works, although he qualified this by adding with whom I am, it is true on the most friendly terms and who leave me great latitude. He proposed that Paris operate independently and he be joined by others to act as selectors in Paris. He mentioned two possible candidates who were art critics: Charles Ephrussi - proprietor of the Gazette des Beaux Arts and Philippe Burty who was an Inspecteur des Beaux Arts. He added they were both Chevaliers de la Legion d’honneur.

At their meeting on 8th July, the Trustees agreed to the setting up of a committee in Paris but with a condition that when any member of the London Committee was in Paris they would have an equal voice with the Paris selectors.38 Unfortunately, Burty died before he could be appointed.39

Relationship between the Trustees and selectors

Overall the relationship between the Trustees and the selectors was good. From time to time, there were disagreements about the works purchased by the selectors but the Trustees were very aware that they appointed the selectors to make decisions. If the selectors made decisions with which the Trustees were not happy, they would write to the selectors with their views.

On only one occasion (apart from the Chevalier/Smith resignation described above) was there a major dispute between the London selectors and a Trustee. This occurred in 1887 when Henry Dangar went to England. In March the Trustees wrote to Chevalier and Brierley requesting them to communicate with him in regard to any purchases for the Gallery during his stay in England.40

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The first indication of an issue was contained in a letter from Dangar to Chevalier where Chevalier was accused of discourtesy to Dangar and lack of deference to the Trustees. The issue was that Chevalier, possibly with Brierley, had purchased a watercolour41 without consulting Dangar in spite of the Trustees’ instructions. Dangar asked Chevalier to reply in writing. Chevalier did, on the same day, stating that it is for the first time in my long life that I have been accused of discourtesy and deliberate affront towards any one, and especially towards a gentleman to whom I thought to have all due respect.42

They both wrote to the Trustees. At the Trustees’ meeting on 19th August it was agreed that Sir Alfred Stephen would write to both. Danger replied on 10th November with his resignation and in his letter stated I regret that I am so little satisfied with its substance I am compelled to resign an office I have held with, hitherto, considerable pleasure. When the Trustees saw his letter they decided not to forward the resignation to the Minister until Sir Alfred had spoken to Dangar.43 Dangar’s formal resignation is recorded in the Trustees’ minutes on 20th March 1889. It would appear that Sir Alfred took Chevalier’s side in the dispute. This is reinforced by Chevalier’s letter of 14th Ocober 1887 where he says I have to offer you my sincere thanks for having exonerated me from the grave charge, levelled by Mr Dangar, of wilful and intentional contempt towards him and his Co-Trustees.44

Relationship between the Minister/Government and Trustees

Overall, there appeared to be a good relationship between the Trustees and the NSW Government during the period up to 1894.

Initially this is not surprising as two of the Trustees, Sir Alfred Stephen and Edward Combes were also members of Parliament. Combes is said to be the mover behind the vote going to the Academy. As important as the support of these two was the fact that the Premier of NSW at the time, Henry Parkes, was interested in, and a supporter of the arts. .45 Parkes (a supporter of free trade) and Combes (a protectionist) were opposed politically but this did not stop them working together.46 Parkes himself, however, interfered in the Gallery's operation in an altogether different way and this is discussed below.47

In fact, the initial relationship was so good that in September 187448, the Trustees wrote to the Minister suggesting that the Minister should, for the time being, be an ex-officio Trustee of the Gallery. He accepted49.

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The first overt interference by the government occurred in early May 1881 when Du Faur informed Trustees at their meeting50 that the Minister of Public Instruction, Sir John Robertson, had informed Du Faur that he was to be consulted before any purchases were made. Robertson, an ex-premier, also requested that the Trustees send him notice of their meetings. At their meeting on 30th May the Trustees decided to write to Sir John to point out the inconvenience of his actions. In reply the Minister’s Under Secretary, in a letter dated 18th June, informed the Trustees that the Minister would, from now on, only advance money when individual pictures were purchased rather than the whole vote for each year. At the next meeting on 13th June, Combes reported that he had met the Minister who reiterated that funds would only be forthcoming after approval of the Minister. At the same meeting, Montefiore reported a meeting with Henry Parkes, the Premier, about vases for the collection. Although there is no mention of any conversation about the Minister’s requests; it is hard to believe that this would not be raised. At a meeting of the Trustees on 24th June, a letter requesting that the Minister reconsider his decision was drafted but it was not sent. At the meeting on 29th June it was again agreed to defer any letter to the Minister. However on 1st July the minutes state letter number one read and approved. Unfortunately the minutes do not provide any information about what this letter was about or to whom it was written but it would be surprising if it was anything but the letter to the Minister which had been discussed at previous meetings. At this point, four pages of the Trustees’ minutes are missing.51 There were three meetings in late July and while the last of these, on the 25th July, mentions discussions between Du Faur and Sir John Robertson about the relative merits of two Marshall Wood statues, there is no mention of them discussing the relationship between the Minister and the Trustees.

However on the same date, Sir James Fairfax wrote to the Minister. In his letter, after pointing out that the Trustees were appointed for the administration of votes of Parliament towards the formation of a Gallery of Art he states:

I respectfully beg to call your attention to the fact that for some time past the votes of Parliament have not been placed at the credit of the Trustees…….the Trustees having to apply to the Minister for Education (sic) for every sum needed for additions to the Gallery, in my opinion places the Trustees in a position not intended by the Government appointing them or by Parliament when voting money to be administered by them.

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… and that the unnecessary control attempted by the Minister is not only a hindrance to their work in the management of their trust, but it is also treating them with an indignity they ought not to submit to, and if it is intended to express a want of confidence in the present Trustees, the proper course would be to … appoint other Trustees.

… implies that my co-trustees and myself are unworthy of confidence, and beg therefore to tender my resignation, which I confess I do with reluctance… .52

Fairfax also writes to Du Faur as secretary of the Trustees stating it is a personal decision and it should not be taken as disrespectful to the other Trustees. He also thanks Du Faur for the considerable time, labour and energy he has spent in creating the Art Gallery.53

At the meeting on 8th August, the minutes recorded that Fairfax had resigned but there was no mention of any meetings or discussions between the parties involved. Fairfax stayed as a Trustee and there was no further mention of Sir John being involved in further purchases as Minister of Public Instruction.54

In 1885, the Government came under pressure from the Art Society who were dissatisfied with the Gallery’s purchasing policy. In 1884, Montefiore and Du Faur proposed to the other Trustees that part of the vote should be used to purchase Australian works. The Trustees agreed that the sum of £125 and £75 would be set aside to purchase an oil painting and a watercolour respectively from the next annual exhibition of the Art Society of New South Wales, provided that the Trustees considered the work to profess sufficient merit to a place in the … Gallery.55

At their meeting on 10th April 1885, the Trustees agreed to spend £50 (donated by Fairfax) for Piguenit’s oil painting ‘Mangrove Swamp’ and £42 for Julian Ashton's ‘Margin of the Creek’.56 They also resolved to write to the Art Society stating that:

That whilst desiring to record their opinion that the works at the Art Societys (sic) Exhibition of this year was on the whole a decided advance on those exhibited in previous years the Trustees after much consideration regret that they have been unable to select anything which they consider would be in accordance with the conditions of the vote agreed upon for the purchase of an oil painting to the value of £125 and water color (sic) of £75.

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This angered the Art Society members and after a public argument in the pages of the press57, they soon started communicating with the Trustees only through the Minister and his Under-Secretary, asking questions about the Gallery’s administration and use of funds.

The Trustees, at their meeting on 1st May 1885, decided to write to the Minister stating that while they were at all times ready to furnish the Minister whose duty it may be to see to the proper administration of the funds voted for Art purchases with any information required, they declined to supply that information to the Art Society.58

The Trustees subsequent decision not to buy any works from the Art Society’s 1886 exhibition would not have helped the relationship.59 In June 1886, the Art Society wrote to the Trustees requesting a meeting. At the Trustees meeting on 1 July, Montefiore and DU Faur reported the results of that meeting. The Art Society asked that a sum of money should be reserved for purchasing paintings by colonial artists. Montefiore and Du Faur told the society that they would like to encourage colonial art but the incomplete state of the Art Gallery and the reduction of the government grant meant they could not spend very much on acquisitions.60 In 1887, the relationship seemed to be improving as the Trustees and the Art Society discussed having the Art Society’s annual exhibition at the Gallery. In the end, however, the Art Society acquired new rooms where the 1887 exhibition was held.

It appears that the Art Society was not satisfied by the attitude of the Trustees towards the Society and this was the reason for the appointment of Julian Rossi Ashton as a Trustee in January 1889.61 In the letter appointing Ashton, the Under Secretary also stated that the Minster had approved a proposal that the Gallery spend £500-£600 of the annual vote on pictures painted in New South Wales.

Sir Alfred Stephen, the president of the Trustees resigned as a result of this letter. In 1889, the AGNSW purchased twelve oils and watercolours executed in NSW for approximately £660.62

There appears to be little direct interference by the Ministers or Government after the end of Montefiore’s Directorship in 1894 in regard to the collection. It should be noted that the issues discussed above are not the only ones where the government and the Trustees interacted. The Under Secretary would write to the Trustees raising points or complaints made by members of the public, in the press or in Parliament on issues not related to the collection.63 Similarly the Trustees would ask the Minister or the government to become involved in a number of issues which are outside the scope of this thesis.

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Sources of works

The Gallery’s works came from a variety of sources: overseas purchases, purchases from international exhibitions and local purchases. At the Trustees’ meeting on 4th August 1874, they decided to send £420 to the London selectors. While this was not a large sum it represented 84% of the first vote. This was to set the stage for future purchases. The selectors would purchase primarily works by artists who were either RAs or ARAs or works that had been exhibited at a Salon in Paris.

In the period covered by this chapter there were a number of international exhibitions held in Australia. The most important for the AGNSW was the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879-80. The Trustees also bought, or tried to buy, from the Melbourne International Exhibition (1880-01), Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition (1887) and the Centennial International Exhibition in Melbourne (1888).

Another source of works was the Royal Anglo-Australian Society of Artists who held exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide during this period.

Although foreshadowed by the decision of the Councillors of the Academy at their meeting on 23 July 1874 that the Trustees should have liberty to invest some portion of the amount in the colony should it be deemed advisable64, it is unlikely that they would have foreseen that eventually many British and Foreign works would be purchased locally. While the first work acquired by the AGNSW was a commission, there were relatively few other commissions amongst the Gallery’s acquisitions.

As well as purchases the Gallery received bequests and gifts from the earliest days. These were initially known as presentations. The AGNSW’s first acquisition register does not record any presentations prior to 1894.65 While most presentations can be identified some are hard to trace due to the issues described in the Literature review.66 One characteristic of gifts and bequests is that the Trustees appeared to have more catholic taste when no monetary outlay was involved on their part. There were also a number of transfers from other organisations, especially the Colonial Secretary.67

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Acquisitions – from 1874 to 1894

Only the most significant acquisitions are discussed. This does not relate to the artistic importance of a work but its significance in terms of why and how it was acquired. As discussed in the Literature Review the earliest Trustees were aware of Ruskin’s theories. However, art theories played a very small part in the acquisitions by the Trustees from 1874 and, for many acquired works, none at all.68

Despite the Trustees deciding to collect predominantly original British watercolours and to purchase most works in London69, neither of the first two acquisitions met these criteria. They were both colonial works. The Trustees at their first meeting commissioned Conrad Martens (a fellow member of the Academy) to paint a watercolour for £50. It would be a view of the Apsley Falls in northern New South Wales.70

The second work acquired was the first gift to the Gallery. An oil painting was acquired by 50 subscribers paying for the work and then presenting it to the Academy. The 1875 Annual Report of the Academy reported:

An oil painting of Tasmanian Scenery by an artist of great promise, a native of that colony, has, through the kind contributions of Members and Friends of the Society, become the property of the Academy.71

Figure 8 – William Charles Piguenit, Mount Olympus, Lake St Clair, Tasmania, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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This painting, Mount Olympus, Lake St Clair, Tasmania, by William Charles Piguenit (see Figure 8), was transferred to the AGNSW’s collection when the Academy of Art was dissolved by its members.72 These two works had been exhibited in the Elizabeth Street rooms acquired by the Academy in June 1876 (see Figure 2) along with watercolours purchased in England and a number of works lent to the Academy.73

In October 1875, the Trustees resolved that an endeavour be made to obtain a single oil painting by a living English artist for the £500 voted, and that Messrs Chevalier and Smith be invited to assist the trustees in its election, the resolution to be first communicated to Sir Alfred Stephen for its concurrence therein.74 Sir Alfred agreed and in the following year the first three British oils were purchased for the Gallery. One, Peace to this House by William Dobson RA, was purchased from a deceased estate in Sydney. The SMH reported as well as being a fine piece of colouring, it was acquired at an exceedingly moderate price.75 The price of a work was an important factor with the Trustees. Throughout the minutes and other documents the ability to obtain a reasonable or reduced price appear as, or more important, than any artistic merit.

The other two were purchased in London. Edward Combes was in England when the issue of five selectors arose. One of the oils purchased was Ford Madox Brown’s Chaucer reading at the court of Edward III (see Figure 9). It cost £500. Combes is generally credited with making a decision to purchase this work. Unfortunately there is no documentation to show the relative involvement of the other selectors. Combes wrote to Joseph Docker76, the Minister for Justice and Public Instruction, about the Trustees and this picture after he returned to Sydney:

So far as to their suggestions went with reference to the £500 picture, the Committee thought it would be very desirable to purchase such a picture, and they were fortunate in securing a magnificent example of “Madox Browne” (sic) “Chaucer reading his poetry at the Court of Edward III” as a work of art this grand picture would hold its own in any Gallery in the World77

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Figure 9 – Ford Madox Brown, Chaucer at the Court of Edward III, oil on canvas, Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. This line drawing by Eliezer Levi Montefiore is from the AGNSW catalogue 1893. So it appears that the other selectors (‘the Committee’) were involved in the decision. It was not a contemporary picture, having been painted between 1847 and 1851. In addition it was painted by a Pre-Raphaelite and although they are widely admired today, this was not the case in 1876. By 1876, the meticulous painting of the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers was going out of fashion. However they purchased what was to become one of the treasures of the AGNSW although it was not perceived as such by many when it was purchased and first arrived in Sydney.78 An article in the SMH on 25th December 1876 states:

The last addition to the galley is an immense painting in oils; by F. Madox Brown, “Chaucer reading his poems to John of Gaunt.” On a first inspection one fails to discover the merit of this picture, or to understand why such a large sum as £500 had been paid, for it. There is undoubtedly a large amount of' conscientious work about it; and the artist has spared no pains to make a fine picture, but the result is not satisfactory. … The subject is not particularly interesting, and the treatment by no means happy. There is a good deal of attempt at realistic, or pre-Raphaelite treatment which is not very successful; and it is; even' doubtful whether the drawing is correct. … Altogether the spectator must be disappointed with the last purchase made on behalf of the Government.79

Combes quickly replied with a letter which was published on 30th December in the SMH quoting articles about the painting from nine English publications including the influential Art Journal. Combes also points out in his letter it was “the picture of its year” - 1851 - at the- Royal Academy, and was given the place of honour in the middle room. It also gained the £50 prize at the Liverpool Academy’s Exhibition of 1859.80

This is the first time the AGNSW used the RA as a validation for its acquisitions but it would be repeated on many occasions. An oil by James Pyne (1800-1870) was also purchased in London. It was the first work purchased by an artist who was no longer alive. Pyne exhibited seven works at the RA between 1836 and 1855.81

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In 1874 James Henry Thomas, a member of the Academy’s Council unsuccessfully tried to persuade his fellow Councillors that the nascent Gallery should collect Old Master copies (see Chapter 3). He was appointed as a Trustee on 25th February 1876 but by October he had resigned to return to England. While he was a Trustee, the minutes record that the question of the purchase of one(?) or more of the copies of … Old Masters lent to the Gallery by the Honble Alexr Stuart would be left to Mr Montefiore. On 11th October it was recorded that the Gallery purchased a copy of Murillo’s Madonna and Child for 70 guineas.82 As well as Thomas being a Trustee, the fact that Alexander Stewart was Colonial Treasurer of NSW could have affected the purchase.83 In addition to the works covered by this thesis, the AGNSW acquired over 50 Old Master copies and all but one were acquired before 1909. Apart from Murillo’s Madonna and Child, only one other copy was purchased - the others were gifts or bequests. This was in 1886 and the minutes indicate that the Trustees believed that this copy was an original work.84 This shows that the AGNSW was again acquiring work outside its de facto collections management policy and shows the status of the vendor was an important factor.

In March 1876, the Trustees had asked Chevalier to paint a picture for the Gallery.

Figure 10 – Nicholas Chevalier, Race to Market – Tahiti, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. From Australian Town and Country Journal, 24th Dec 1881, Supplement, p. 1. After an initial refusal, delays and an increase in the fee requested by Chevalier, the work Race to Market - Tahiti (see Figure 10) was received by the Gallery in 1881. It was so popular that two newspapers produced a colour print as a supplement in that year.85

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In 1877, five British and Foreign oils were acquired but none were from London. Two each were purchased in Sydney and Melbourne and one was a gift from Mr F H Dangar in Sydney.86 A work purchased in Sydney, The World and the Cloister, was purchased for 21 guineas. The minutes note that the vendor had paid 25 guineas for the work in Rome.87

In 1879, the next oils were acquired by the AGNSW. While some of these were acquired by the London selectors, most were acquired from works exhibited at the Sydney International Exhibition. Trustees Montefiore and Du Faur were also Fine Art Commissioners for the Exhibition. In 1880 further works were purchased and the majority of these were from the Exhibition. At this time the vote for purchases was increased and other works were purchased by the Government and transferred to the Gallery. The effect on the collection was remarkable. At the end of 1878, there were ten oils in the AGNSW collection. The Gallery acquired 32 oils (see Figure 11) from the Exhibition plus eight others were acquired from other sources making a fivefold increase in the number of oils in 12 months.88

Figure 11 – Keeley Halswelle, Non Angli, sed angeli, oil on canvas, Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. This was purchased from the Sydney International Exhibition, 1879-80. The press devoted considerable space to the art works shown in the Exhibition and of course there were comparisons between them and the works in the Academy’s gallery in Elizabeth Street.

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One article’s anonymous writer said that the works exhibited in the Exhibition fell short of expectations as the original idea was to have valuable works lent by the great galleries and connoisseurs of Britain and Europe but it consists of works sent out on speculation for sale.89 He also commented that the quality of works in the Academy’s gallery was about the same. Du Faur, as both a Trustee of the AGNSW and a Commissioner of the Exhibition, wrote defending the works in both but with a bias towards the AGNSW’s collection. He stated that few would exchange the work by William Dobson RA in the Exhibition for Peace be to this House (purchased in 1876 for £100) in the Academy’s gallery. He also stated that the price of Dobson’s painting in the Exhibition was £525. At the end of the letter, he listed the works in the Exhibition which had been exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1876 and 1879.90

As always, price was important to the Trustees. The minutes of 25th June 1880 record that Montefiore had purchased Julius Huth’s Helsingor, shown in the Exhibition, for £45 instead of the catalogue price of £150.91

Buying from international exhibitions continued with purchases from the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880-1, the Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition in 1887 and the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in 1888. In 1889, the first exhibition by the Royal Anglo-Australian Society of Artists was held in Sydney and works were acquired from this and subsequent exhibitions which continued intermittently until 1925.92 The members were British artists and the Society’s exhibitions in Australia seem to have no other purpose other than to sell the members’ works.

The money available suddenly increased in 1880 with £5,000 being voted. This annual sum remained until 1893 with the exception of 1884 when £3,000 was voted. While no formal decision was made to alter the Trustees’ original policy of acquiring watercolours, it appears the acquisition of oils was added to the Trustees’ defacto collections policy from both the number and value of works acquired.93 These were primarily British and Foreign with a few Australian oils acquired prior to 1889.94 The collection grew steadily.

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While £5,000 was a great improvement on previous amounts voted, it was not enough to purchase some of the works desired. In the minutes of 12th June 1882, Montefiore reports that Edwin Long’s Babylonian Marriage Market is available and he would authorise extra funds to buy it.95 In a letter from London, Colin Smith says that the selectors could only pay up to £4,500 but it was sold for £6,300 and Smith noted that the purchaser would have been willing to pay up to £10,000 for the work.96 Another change occurred in 1889, when Julian Ashton joined the Trustees and the Minister requested that works created in NSW should be included in the Gallery’s purchases. From this year the number of Australian oils acquired steadily increased but the number of British and Foreign oils in the collection exceeded Australian oils until after 1935.97

The majority of British and Foreign oils purchased in the first twenty years of the Gallery (as distinct from gifts and bequests) were contemporary works and the majority were purchased by the London and Paris selectors. They selected the works they were comfortable with and knew that the Trustees would like. In the main this meant artists who had exhibited at the RA or one of the Salons in Paris. If the artist had been elected as an ARA or RA or had been awarded a medal at a Salon, the more the Trustees appreciated the acquisition of their works.98

There were many works offered locally by dealers, auctioneers, artists or private persons. In 1891, the Trustees purchased the Bass Rock by Samuel Brough from Newton and Lamb for £136.10.0.99 Newton and Lamb were general auctioneers and furniture importers.100 Although Brough was never an ARA or RA he exhibited 15 works at the RA from 1856 to 1876. He was elected a full member of the RA’s Scottish equivalent, the Royal Scottish Academy, in 1874.101

Another influence was the person(s) recommending a work. In 1882, Andrew Gow102 exhibited A Jacobite Proclamation at the RA (see Figure 12). The Gallery’s selectors did not suggest this painting to the AGNSW but on 4th May Sir Henry Parkes’103 Under Secretary wrote stating that Parkes had directed him to inform the Trustees that the work was under offer to the Gallery.104 The last sentence in this letter was I am desired to add that the purchase of the picture is recommended by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, Mr Gladstone and Mr Woolner.105 At a meeting on 8th May, the Trustees approved the purchase.106

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Figure 12 - Andrew Gow, A Jacobite Proclamation, oil on canvas. Sold 1996, whereabouts unknown.

While the Gallery appeared to be less discriminating when works were offered to it as a gift or bequest, they did not always accept everything offered to them. James Fairfax gave many items to the Gallery including a cast of Canova’s Boxers, a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry and a cast of the Ghiberti Gates from Florence Cathedral.107 In 1883, Fairfax had offered an oil painting called Scene near Brighton but the Trustees resolved to decline with thanks although the picture was a good one, it was not fit for a Gallery purpose.108

The Trustees’ minutes ignore the movements which are now considered the mainstream of art in the mid and late nineteenth century with one exception. At 1894, Devitt told the Trustees that Holman Hunt’s picture The finding of the Saviour in the Temple was available for £4,000. The Trustees declined the offer.109 A letter from Edouard Montefiore in Paris read at the Trustees meeting on 24th March 1894 asks about the purchase of impressionist works. The reply is the Trustees are of the opinion that they should be avoided.110

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Occasionally the Trustees gave their selectors guidelines for their purchases; however, they were always couched in vague language. In January 1891, they asked for ‘Distinctive’ pictures as good, or even better than anything now in the Gallery.111 In April 1894, they requested rising artists.112 The acquisition imperatives described above continued for the period covered in this chapter.113 At the end of 1894, the AGNSW collection contained 195 British and Foreign oils and 45 Australian oils.

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Chapter 4 - Notes

1 There is no detail in the minutes about any other collection that could be considered as a National collection in NSW. National was dropped after the 1958 Act. Mins 11/3157, 10th Sep 1883, Folio 174.

2 Sir Alfred Stephen was the retired Chief Justice of New South Wales. He filled many roles in NSW during his life. Martha Rutledge, ‘Stephen, Sir Alfred (1802–1894)’, ADB, . Viewed 4th Sep 2011.

3 He was the only artist appointed during the years covered by this chapter.

4 At least two of the original Trustees were amateur artists.

5 There are 23 by Eliezer Levi Montefiore and one by Edward Combes. The most recent Montefiore was acquired in 1998. There are also two works by Montefiore’s brother, Edouard Levi Montefiore, and four by Combes’ daughter, Alice. See AGNSW Collection website.

6 NSW Government Gazette, Number 62, Tuesday 25 Feb 1876, page 827.

7 NSW Government Gazette, Number 269, Tuesday 8 Aug 1876, page 3061.

8 Combes did not contest a seat at the 1874 election, choosing to go to England. He was reappointed as a Trustee in 1881. Nairn Bede, ‘Combes, Edward (1830–1895)’, ADB, . Viewed 2nd Nov 2011.

9 One curious result of these appointments in 1876 is that for many years lists of Trustees published in annual reports, catalogues, etc. stated the first Trustees were appointed in 1876. Even Bernard Smith repeats this in his scholarly A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875-1952, pp. 10 - 12.

10 Sir Henry Parkes was Colonial Secretary (i.e. Premier) at this time. Letter, Under-Secretary for Public Instruction to Wharton, 2nd Jan1889, reference CF 3/1889.

11 The Under Secretary usually addressed his letters to Wharton, the AGNSW Secretary. Letter, Under-Secretary for Public Instruction to Stephen, 14th Jan1889, reference CF 8/1889.

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12 Both letters are from Sir Alfred Stephen to the Minister. References Letter, Sir Alfred Stephen to the Minister for Public Instruction, 16th Jan 1889. LB07, Folio 434, 436 and 438. Letter, Sir Alfred Stephen to the Minister for Public Instruction, 24th Jan 1889. LB07, Folio 441, 442 and 443.

13 The minutes state that Montefiore was appointed Chairman. Mins 11/3157, 20th Mar 1889, Folio 418.

14 In his autobiography, Ashton also made critical remarks about Stephen, Montefiore and Du Faur – all long dead at the time of publication in 1941. Julian Ashton, Now Came Still Evening On, pp. 87, 88.

15 Ashton was a member of the Art Society’s Council in 1885 when the Society and the Gallery had a major disagreement about the quality and prices of works. One of the works involved was by Ashton and he refused to sell it to the Gallery at the price they offered. ‘The Art Society and the Trustees of the Art Gallery’, SMH, 15th Apr 1885, p. 6.

16 The 1899 Art Gallery Act stated that two Trustees were to be nominated by the Art Society of NSW. The 1958 Act introduced a clause stating not less than two (Trustees) shall be knowledgeable and experienced in the visual arts. The current Act (1980) also includes this requirement.

17 Appendix C contains a list of Trustees from 1874 to 1935, showing their years of birth and death, year appointed, year of resignation or death and honours (where known).

18 Mins 11/3158, 6th Sep 1894, Folio 53.

19 Cerebral apoplexy is now believed to be either an aneurism or a stroke. Montefiore was 74 years old. ‘Death Of Mr. E. L. Montefiore’, SMH, 23rd Oct 1894, p. 5.

20 Nicholas Chevalier was born in 1828 in St Petersburg. He came to Melbourne in 1855 and stayed there until 1869. During this stay he visited New Zealand and other parts of Australia. He died in 1902 in London. His widow, Caroline Chevalier, presented five of his paintings to the AGNSW in 1919.

21 Barry Pearce, Swiss Artists in Australia, p. 56.

22 ‘The Pacific Insurance Company.’, SMH, 29th July 1871, p. 7.

23 This is one of many decisions where we only know the result as the minutes only record the decision, not the discussions prior to it being made.

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24 William Cave Thomas (1820 – 1883) was an English painter. At the second AGM of the NSW Academy of Art, he is thanked for his kindness in preparing a design for the Academy’s certificate. However, he is not listed as being present. ‘Fine Arts.’, SMH, 12th July 1873, p. 7.

The Minutes record The name of Mr W Cave Thomas was associated with those of Messrs Chevalier and C M Smith as an Selection Committee for purchase of pictures in England. NSWAA records, 9th Dec 1875, Folio 647.

25 Letter, Chevalier and Smith to Agent General for New South Wales, 8th June 1876. This is one of a number of letters filed under AGNSW Reference 21/1876.

24. There is no further mention of him in the AGNSW records so it is not known whether he accepted the invitation. Mins NSWAA records, 6th Nov 1877, Folio 647. Martha Rutledge, ‘Montefiore, Jacob Levi (1819–1885)’, ADB, . Viewed 4th Sep 2011.

27 Mins NSWAA records, 12th Feb 1878, Folio 357.

28 George Penkivil Slade was an English painter, born in 1832, who arrived in Australia in 1858. The State Library of NSW and the National Library have works by him but not the AGNSW. Design and Art of Australia Online, George Penkivil Slade, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

29 Dangar’s request suggests that Slade was about to return to England where he died in 1896. Mins 11/3157, 10th Jul 1882, Folio 125.

30 Mins 11/3157, 7th Aug 1882, Folio 126

31 Mins 11/3157, 26th Apr 1887, Folio 339.

32 He later became Chairman.

33 He explains I am very unwell, & cannot now give the matter the attention it requires. Letter, Brierley to Montefiore, 23rd Jan 1890, reference CF 4/1890.

34 George James Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle (1843-1911) was an artist and a Trustee of the National Gallery in London. Christopher Newall, The Etruscans: Painters of the Italian Landscape, 1850-1900, p. 72.

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35 Letter, Arthur H Greening to Montefiore, 23rd June 1893, reference 17/1893. Greening was probably one of Devitt’s ship broking staff. In this letter, he thanks Montefiore for his remuneration of £50 per annum.

36 Edouard Levi Montefiore (1826 – 1906). He gave four works to the AGNSW in 1901 including a watercolour by him. Mins 1/3159, 20th Sep 1901, Folio 386.

37 The information following is also from this letter. Letter, Edward Montefiore to Eliezer Montefiore, 30th May 1890, reference CF69/1891 (sic).

38 Mins 11/3157, 8th July 1890, Folio 482.

39 Phillipe Burty (1830-1890), n.d., .

40 Mins 11/3157, 15th March 1887, Folios 334, 335.

41 The work, Trundling the cheese, by Robert Thorne Waite (1842-1935) is still in the AGNSW collection.

42 Letter, Chevalier to Dangar, 4th Jul 1887, Reference CF47/1887.

43 Mins 11/3157, 21st Feb 1888, Folio 370.

44 Letter, Chevalier to Trustees, 14 Oct 1877, Reference CF78/1887.

45 Parkes’ copy of Ruskin’s ‘Modern Painters’ was catalogue number 561½ (sic), Catalogue of the Library and Furniture of the Hon. Sir Henry Parkes, G.C.M.G. Removed from His Residence, ‘Kenilworth’, p. 32.

46 Parkes’ owned an oil painting ‘Evening’ by Combes at the time of his death. Catalogue of the Library and Furniture of the Hon. Sir Henry Parkes, G.C.M.G. Removed from His Residence, ‘Kenilworth’, p. 48.

47 Parkes gave or transferred works to the Gallery. Other politicians did as well. The best list of works transferred by Parkes is in the AGNSW’s 1886 catalogue. Unfortunately the year of transfer is not recorded. Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales with Illustrations drawn by E L Montefiore, Esq., Third edition.

48 Mins NSWAA records, 4th Sep1878, Folio 381.

49 Mins. NSWAA records, 12th Nov 1878, Folio 395.

50 Mins 11/3157, 14th May 1881, Folio 54.

51 Folios 84 to 87.

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52 Unfortunately, ink blots have obscured parts of this letter. Letter, Fairfax to Minister for Education (sic), 25 July 1881, reference CF13/1881.

53 This has the same reference as the letter above. Letter, Fairfax to Du Faur, 25 July 1881, reference CF13/1881.

54 Sir John Robinson ceased being Minister for Public Instruction on 10th November 1881.

55 Mins 11/3158, 8th Aug 1884, Folios 204, 205.

56 Piguenit’s Mangrove Swamp was purchased. Ashton’s Margin of the Creek was not. The Daily Telegraph of 16th April 1885 printed a letter from the J W Sayer, the Art Society’s Assistant Secretary, to the Gallery where he states: In order, however, to show their appreciation of the work, they made an offer to another of our members of 40 guineas for a picture valued at £50, which I am instructed by the member to decline.

57 Reported in detail in both the SMH and Daily Telegraph.

58 Mins 11/3157, 1st May 1885, Folio 232.

59 Mins 11/3157, 30th April 1886, Folio 274, 275.

60 Mins 11/3157, 2nd July 1886, Folio 292, 293.

61 Letter, Under-Secretary for Public Instruction to Wharton, 2nd January1889, reference CF3/1889.

62 This included a Conrad Martens (died 1878) watercolour. They spent more on British and Foreign works including £1,400 for Edwin Long’s A Dorcas Meeting in the 6th Century. Purchases and presentations made between 1876 - 1935, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1893 – 1935, pp. 5, 6, 26, 27.

63 Two of the most regular issues raised were the Gallery’s buildings and planned extensions and the allocation of funds.

64 Mins NSWAA records, 23rd Jul 1874, Folios 25, 29

65 Purchases and presentations made between 1876 – 1935. This was created in 1893/1894 and most purchases from 1876 were entered retrospectively but presentations were not. They started from 1894.

66 This is especially true of works that have been deaccessioned.

67 These were mainly sculpture and applied art which are outside the scope of this thesis.

68 Especially gifts and bequests.

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69 This can be considered as the Gallery’s de facto collection management policy.

70 Mins NSWAA records, 4th Aug 1874, Folio 631.

71 The report manages to omit both the names of the artist and the painting. Fourth Annual Report of the New South Wales Academy of Art, p. 1.

72 The Academy held its ninth annual meeting at the Gallery on 11th November 1880 when the Council of the Academy moved that it be dissolved as it had met all its objectives. The motion was carried. Its property was donated to the AGNSW. ‘The Academy of Art’, SMH, 12th Nov 1880, p. 6

73 The rooms were open to the public on Fridays and Saturday from noon to 4 pm. ‘New South Wales Academy of Art’, SMH, 2nd Jun 1876, p. 1

74 Mins, NSWAA records, 27th Oct 1875, Folio 645.

75 ‘Art Gallery of New South Wales’, SMH, 10th Jun 1876, p. 8. It was deaccessioned and sold in 1948.

76 As they were both members of Parliament at various times, Docker and Combes would have known each other well. They later served together as ministers in Sir John Robinson’s government in 1877, Parliamentary Record, Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, 1824 – 2007, p. 255.

77 The letter was written from the Australian Club, Sydney. Letter, Combes to Docker, 11th Feb 1876, reference: CF39/1876.

78 As it was accompanied by other works, Chaucer was probably exhibited in the Academy’s Elizabeth Street rooms. However due to the size of Chaucer (391 cm x 315 cm including frame), this was not considered a suitable location. At their meeting on 19th January 1877 the Trustees resolved to advise the Government that it should be transferred to the Hall of the University as they believed no other building in Sydney in which a painting of such size & character could be advantageously shown to the public. It eventually ended up in the Australian Museum (also known as the Sydney Museum) as the AGNSW requested its return to hang in the new Gallery building in 1880. Mins, NSWAA records, 19th Jan 1877, Folio 269. Letter Du Faur to Curator, Sydney Museum, 14th Jul 1880, reference LB1, Folio 220.

79 ‘Additions to the Art Gallery’, SMH, 25th December 1876: p. 5.

80 Edward Combes, ‘Additions to the Art Gallery: To the Editor of the Herald’, SMH, 30th Dec 1876, p. 8.

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81 The work purchased was not one of the seven. Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from Its Foundation in 1769 to 1904, Etc. Volume 6 - Oakes to Rymsdyk, p. 219.

82 Mins, NSWAA records, 11th Oct 1875, Folios 251, 253, 255.

83 He was later Premier from 5th January 1883 to 6th October 1885.

84 The minutes record the Trustees agreed subject to the passing of the Estimates to purchase Ingolini (sic) picture “The Adoration of the Magi” for £150. This work is now catalogued as Unknown after Agostino d’Ugolini (Italy 1755-1824), Mins 11/3157, 2nd Apr 1886, Folios 271, 272.

85 ‘A Race to Market’, Illustrated Sydney News, 29th Oct 1881, Sydney, Supplement, p. 1 and ‘A Race to Market, Tahiti’, Australian Town and Country Journal, 24th Dec 1881, Sydney, Supplement, p. 1

86 The SMH called Dangar a gentleman well-known in Sydney. This was probably Frederick Holkham Dangar, brother of soon to be Trustee Henry Cary Dangar. ‘Fine Arts.’, SMH, 27th Jul 1877, p. 7. Louise T Daley, ‘Dangar, Frederick Holkham (1831-1921)’, ADB, . Viewed 9th Sep 2011.

87 Mins, NSWAA records, 6th Nov 1877, Folio 331.

88 They also acquired watercolours, sculptures and ceramics.

89 This was the first of a series of ten articles about the Art Gallery at the Exhibition published over a month. ‘The Art Gallery - I.’, SMH, 15th Nov 1879, p. 3.

90 Some of the works listed were later purchased by the AGNSW. Eccelston Du Faur. ‘To the Editor of the Herald’, SMH, 26th Nov 1879, p. 7.

91 Mins, NSWAA records, 25th Jun 1880, Folio 599.

92 The first exhibition, held at the AGNSW from 11th April to June 1889 (exact date not recorded), was held before the Society was granted a royal charter. The name was changed in 1910 to the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists and exhibitions were also held in the UK and other colonies. ‘Anglo-Australian Society of Artists’, SMH, 12th Apr 1889, p. 5. Triumvir, ‘Art, Music and the Drama’, SMH, 22nd Jun 1889, p. 7.

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93 The Gallery also acquired sculpture and ceramics including works transferred to the collection by Sir Henry Parkes. The 1886 catalogue identifies works transferred by Parkes. Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales with Illustrations drawn by E L Montefiore, Esq., Third edition, 1886

94 Chevalier’s Race to Market, Tahiti is now included in the Australian collection but as late as 1928, it was catalogued in the British and Foreign Section of the Gallery’s catalogues. National Art Gallery of New South Wales Illustrated Catalogue, 1928, No. 179.

95 Montefiore calls this painting Long’s finest work. Mins, 11/3157, 25th Jun 1880, Folio 124

96 This painting is now in the Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham, Surrey. Letter, Smith to Du Faur, 17th May 1882, reference CF21/1882.

97 Between 1889 and 1935 the number of British and Foreign oils acquired exceeded Australian oil acquisitions for 16 of the 47 years. In 1935, the AGNSW had 507 British and Foreign and 362 Australian oils. Australian oils includes all works by Rupert Bunny, Nicholas Chevalier, Charles Conder and Giuseppe Ferrarini.

98 See Appendices E and F – AGNSW artists at the Royal Academy and Salons.

99 This painting, deaccessioned and sold in 1946, was later known as The Prison of the Bass. It was offered to the Trustees in July 1891 and the Trustees offered 100 guineas for it a month later. Mins, 11/3158, 8th Sep 1891, Folio 2, Mins, 11/3157, 7th Jul 1891, Folio 547, 11/3157, 4th Aug 1891, Folio 547.

100 On the Saturday before the Trustees’ meeting, they advertised both household auctions and piano sales on separate pages of the SMH. ‘Advertising’, SMH, 5th Sep 1891, pp. 1, 14.

101 Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Compete Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904, Vol 1 – Abbayne to Carington, p. 248.

102 Andrew Carrick Gow (1848- 1920) was elected ARA in 1880 and RA in 1890. His Relief of Leyden, purchased by Chevalier in 1878, had been exhibited at the RA in 1876. It arrived in Sydney in February 1879.

103 In December 1881 Sir Henry Parkes, then Colonial Secretary, took a holiday voyage on medical advice. He arrived in England in March 1882 and arrived back in Australia in August 1882. In England he became one of the social lions of the season and was noticed by royalty, politicians, expatriate Australians, guilds and companies. A W Martin, Parkes, Sir Henry (1815-1896), ADB, . Viewed 4th Sep 2011.

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104 Letter, Under Secretary, Colonial Secretary’s Office to Trustees, 4th May 1882, reference CF53/1882.

105 Gladstone was UK Prime Minster at the time. Thomas Woolner, the sculptor, had first met Parkes in Sydney 1854. Marjorie J Tipping, Woolner, Thomas (1825-1892), ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

106 The price was £800. Mins 11/3157, 8th May 1882, Folio 120

107 Mins, 11/3157, 12th Jun 1882, Folio 122, 11/3157, 14th Aug 1889, Folio 441, 11/3157, 9th Dec 1890, Folio 513.

108 The minutes do not mention the name of the artist. Mins 11/3157, 11th Jun 1883, Folio 162

109 The annual vote was £5,000 in 1892. This work is now in the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery collection. Mins, 11/3158, 3rd May 1892, Folios 32, 33.

110 Mins 11/3157, 20th Jan 1894, Folios 521, 522.

111 Mins 11/3158, 24th Apr 1891, Folio 111.

112 Ironically this was at the same meeting where they rejected impressionists. Mins 11/3158, 24th Apr 1894, Folio 111.

113 The acquisition of Australian works was carried out in a different manner.

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Chapter 5 – The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 This chapter discusses the years following the Eliezer Levi Montefiore’s death in 1894 to 1913 where G V F Mann was appointed as the AGNSW’s second Director. When Montefiore died, no Director was appointed so President of Trustees Du Faur took the leading role in the Gallery’s affairs and he worked very closely with Mann after Mann’s appointment.

Unlike many government institutions, the AGNSW did not have any specific legislation covering its operation in its early days.1 In 1899, the NSW Parliament passed the Library and Art Gallery Act to provide a framework for its operation.2

In 1895, the Government architect designed a new building and approximately 75% of the intended building was completed during this period. This took up a considerable amount of the Trustees’ time and attention. In 1897, the first Wynne Prize was awarded. Along with the Archibald and Sulman prizes, this is one of the elements most associated with the AGNSW by the general public of NSW.3

After the death of Montefiore on 22nd October 1894, the Trustees advertised two positions: Director and Secretary. Two applications4 were received for the position of Director and one for Secretary. The Trustees decided not to appoint a new Director but a Secretary: George E Layton. The function of Director effectively reverted to the Trustees, as in the years from 1874 to 1892.

On 18th May 1900, Layton’s position was changed to Secretary and Superintendent but the Trustees’ minutes show that, unlike Montefiore, he was considered as subservient rather than an equal or near equal.5 Layton died in 19056 and at a special meeting of Trustees Gother Victor Fyers Mann was nominated as Secretary and Superintendent. This appointment was rejected by the Government so two weeks later the Trustees appointed Mann as acting Secretary.7 The job was advertised but all other applicants were rejected and in September Mann was officially appointed.8

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Mann was a very different man to Layton. At the time of his appointment he was 42 with a number of achievements.9 Trained as an architect, he won the NSW Institute of Architects gold medal for draughtsmanship and design in 1886. He studied art under Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton and was Secretary of the Art Society of NSW in the 1890s. He was the Gallery’s Acting Secretary when Layton was ill in 1896, 1898 and 1903.10 In 1899 he was engaged to help compile that year’s catalogue.11 Mann obviously had a good working relationship with the Trustees and this is indicated by the decision in 1906 to allow Mann to accompany Du Faur to visit the New Zealand International Exhibition in Christchurch.12 In 1909, Du Faur put forward a minute proposing that Mann accompany him on a trip to Europe. Du Faur gave several reasons why he believed this would be advantageous to the Galley. The Trustees rejected this proposal. While Du Faur stated that he would pay his own expenses, the issue of who would pay for Mann was not specified.13 In December 1911, the Trustees decided to recommend that Mann’s title be changed to Director and Secretary. Six months later the Public Service Board rejected this saying that the term Director implies qualifications of the very highest order.14 The Board left the door open to by saying that they would be glad to give consideration to further representations. On 30th May 1913, the minutes record that the Governor had approved the title of Director and Secretary for Mann.15

The Trustees

At Montefiore’s death Du Faur was President and remained in this position until his death in 1915. This provided a stabilising force for the next twenty years. The only artist amongst the other nine Trustees in 1894 was Julian Ashton. Sixteen additional Trustees were appointed between 1895 and 1913 with 15 retiring or resigning.16 There were only two Trustee artists in this period: Arthur Collingridge and William Lister Lister. They were appointed in 1900 after the 1899 Art Gallery Act came into force.17

The other Trustees came from a range of occupations with lawyers and politicians in the majority. From 1901, the Minister of Public Instruction became an ex-officio Trustee. The only non-artist Trustee known to have an in depth knowledge of the arts was John Sulman, the architect who became President of Trustees in 1919. Others would have had some interest in art or they would have declined the appointment.

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One interesting Trustee was Sir Joseph Carruthers, appointed in 1899 who remained as a Trustee until 1932. His seat was declared vacant in 1903 (he was reappointed) and he was only present at about 10% of the meetings held during his tenure.18 He was responsible for one acquisition: a copy of the French historical painting Louis XVI Giving Final Instructions to the Comte de la Pérouse. It arrived in 1911 but within a year it was deaccessioned.19

During this period, the Trustees considered the appointment of the first woman to the Trust. On 3rd May 1907, after the death of Arthur Collingridge, the Trustees approached Miss Eadith Walker about joining the Board. Miss Walker, a Gallery benefactor, declined.20

London and Paris selectors

At the time of Montefiore’s death Nicholas Chevalier, Thomas Devitt and the Earl of Carlisle formed the London Selection Committee with Greening as Secretary. Chevalier was 68 at the time and had suffered ill heath since the 1880s. After 1887 he only exhibited once at the RA in 1895.21 Since Montefiore’s appointment as Director there had been no criticism of the Selector’s purchases except possibly at the Trustee’s meeting on 24th April 1894 when it was decided to ask the selectors to concentrate on works by rising artists.22

At a meeting of Trustees on 28th March 1895, the Trustees had a preliminary discussion about effective Selection Committees for London and Paris.23 Nothing was done until over a year later when an extraordinary meeting was held on 16th April 1896 at which a sub- committee of Du Faur, Fairfax, Mullens24 and Ashton was set up to discuss the Home Selection Committee.25 They met and their recommendations were acted upon at the meetings of 30th April and 28th May 1895.26

The result was the Trustees decided that Nicolas Chevalier had already retired and they would ask the Earl of Carlisle to retire. They would ask Devitt to take financial responsibility for both London and Paris. They would ask Alfred East ARA to become their professional selector and tell Edouard Montefiore that they were appointing a professional gentleman in London to work with the Paris selectors. At the same time they wrote to the Secretary of the RA to request that the Academy select two paintings for the AGNSW from the 1897 Summer Exhibition. The AGNSW’s Secretary, George Layton, was instructed to write to Devitt, East and Edouard Montefiore and copies of these letters were written into the minutes.27

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There is no evidence of the resignation of Chevalier prior to this and Greening, when replying to Layton, states Your letter was the first intimation to us that Mr Chevalier had resigned his position.28 In 1897, Chevalier did resign.29 No letter to Carlisle can be found but a letter from Greening to Layton contains extracts from two letters from Carlisle stating he would resign if that was the Trustees’ wish.30 East wrote on 23rd July 1896 to accept his seat on the London Selection Committee.31 After this year nothing more is heard of Edouard Montefiore (or any other Paris selectors) except for a gift from him in 1901.32

The Secretary of the Royal Academy, after consulting the Academy’s Council and the General Assembly of Academicians agreed to the AGNSW’s request to purchase two works from their 1897 exhibition.33 This was not repeated in future years.

East continued to work as a selector with Devitt and in 1902 they purchased David Murray’s The Anglers (see Figure 13). The Trustees were unhappy with this painting and called a Special meeting on 24th March. After this meeting they cabled London to make no further purchases.34 Layton wrote to London with the Trustees objections (see below for details) together with extracts from previous letters listing works they were unhappy with including A Sunlit Haven by East.35

Figure 13 - David Murray ARA, The Angler, oil on canvas. Whereabouts unknown From The pictures of 1895.

Devitt replied on 30th May stating he would reply in detail, shortly.36 Alfred East replied on 28th June stating he was willing to exchange A Sunlit Haven for another work The Valley of the Lambourne exhibited at the RA in 1902.37

The London selectors responded in August with a nine page report (it is in Greening’s hand) comparing the comments in the above letter to comments sent when the paintings first arrived in Sydney including A Sunlit Haven. The letter of 21st April had said: With reference to “A Sunlit Haven” by your colleague Mr Alfred East the Trustees may under the

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special circumstances of their connection be excused to having felt great disappointment that the artist had not seen his way to paint a special picture for our walls, instead sending one already five years old!

Greening then quoted the Trustees’ comment from their letter of 24th January 1899:

An eminently satisfactory addition to the landscapes of our collection. Broad & large in treatment admirably true to the prevalent tone of an English summer afternoon. Mr East is to be congratulated as the painter of a picture which will be popular not only with the general public, but which has gained the suffrages of the more advanced & capable of our artists here.

The immediate foreground is perhaps a little too much detailed & therefore somewhat weakens the breadth of sunlight & shadow upon which the whole composition depends.38

The comments about this and other works show the inconsistency of the Trustees’ views and was not well received - judging from the Trustees’ reaction. They considered it at their meetings on 17th October, 21st November and 28th November 1902. At this last meeting they decided that the President of Trustees would inform London that the terms of your letter leave me no room for hope that the Committee and the Board will be able work together … the Board considers that the continuance of the Committee of Selection is no longer necessary.

The Trustees realised that they still needed a commercial representative in London and asked B S Lloyd and Co, a business agent with Australian connections39 to represent the Gallery.40 Later in the year they considered whether to ask East to continue his position representing the Gallery. His alacrity in offering to exchange A Sunlit Haven for another painting and the fact that he only drew salary for three of the six years he was a selector would have influenced their decision.41 The following month it was decided to ask East to provide his services on an as required basis.42 East accepted and acted on this basis.

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In 1905, he reported that he had acquired two French paintinngs including Charles

Hoffbauer’s Sur les Toits (see Figure 14)43 for 8,000 francs instead of the asking price of 15,000 francs.44

Figure 14 - Charles Hoffbauer, Sur les Toits, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. From AGNSW catallogue 1919. At the following meeting, Trustee Arthur Collingridge who had just returned from England tabled correspondence between himself and Hoffbauer which establlished that Collingridge had secured the discount, not Eaast.45 The Trustees continued to diiscuss this and in early 1903 set up a sub-committee to consider the matter.46 This camme to a head when at a meeting held on 3rd August 1906 when two letters from East were reaad: the first offering his resignation and the second offering to assist the Trustees as they may desire. At the same meeting Mullens moved that East should withdraw his resignation and that Collingridge and East should consent to forgive and forget. This motion was not passed and Sulman gave notice that he would move at the next meeting a motion that East’s resignation should be accepted. The motion was passed at the next meeting.47

Despite B S Lloyd’s appointment, Devitt continued to act in some matters for the Gallery. In 1906 he presented a portrait of Holman Hunt to the Gallery.48 The last heard from Devitt is was in 1908 when he offered to sell a statuette to the Gallery.49

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In 1910, Edward Knox, who had been appointed as a Trustee in 1907, proposed that the Gallery appoint D S MacColl, the Keeper of the Tate Gallery, as a correspondent in London to write about Exhibitions, Artists and art matters generally to the AGNSW. MacColl accepted but asked that his letters be treated as confidential by the Trustees.50 He next sent a letter with an unfinished report in January 1911. In his letter he said he had been ill and had been advised to rest and therefore must resign. In the report he said the AGNSW, like other galleries, has collected mediocre nineteenth century paintings from the Academy and Salon stating The great masters of the century are absent, and their place is taken by the favourites of a passing fashion … Madox Brown’s “Chaucer” is one of the few pictures that could tempt a European student to visit the Gallery. In the letter, he adds The only way to get a good collection together instead of the present very poor one, is to commission someone of competence to buy for you with full responsibility. Committee purchases are hopeless, it is better to take risks with one individual.51 The Trustees discussed the letter and report at their meeting held on 24th March 1911, but the only comments recorded are to regret MacColl relinquishing his appointment and to thank him for his report. As MacColl had dismissed the majority of the collection as very poor this appears very restrained.52 At the same meeting the Trustees resolved to ask B S Lloyd & Co to advise on a new London representative.53 Two months later, the Trustees decided to also ask John Longstaff to act as a London representative until B S Lloyd can find one.54 At the next meeting on 30th June, Longstaff’s letter of acceptance was read together with a letter from B S Lloyd & Co stating that they had asked A G Temple, the Director of the Guildhall Art Gallery, to be a representative. Temple accepted the offer.55 The AGNSW now had two separate representatives - both steeped in the traditions that resulted in the collection that MacColl called poor.56 MacColl’s advice recommending only one representative was also ignored.

In November the Trustee were told that Temple had purchased W B Wollen’s Britain’s Watchdogs (see below). The Trustees, having seen a reproduction of this work cabled London Defer further Purchases, writing. At the same meeting another letter was received saying that Du Faur (who was in England) had seen the work and that he had expressed himself as well satisfied.57

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Despite the instruction to defer purchases, Temple continued to buy for the AGNSW. In March 1913 it was decided to advise Longstaff that his commission to purchase works would be revoked but the Trustees would desire to retain his services for assistance and advice. At the same meeting it was decided to terminate Temple’s services.58 At the following meeting (before he would have read notice of the Trustees’ decision about him in March), a letter from Longstaff was read offering his help in purchasing works from an upcoming sale at Christies. The Trustees accepted his offer.59 At the next meeting Mann became Director and Secretary.

Acquisitions – 1895 to 1913

In 1894, the vote for purchases was reduced to £3,000 instead of the £5,000 voted in 12 of the thirteen previous years. Until 1935 the annual vote for purchases varied between £1,700 and £4,000 with the average being £2,457.60

There were few international exhibitions in Australia during this period. In 1895 Trustees Du Faur and Combes visited the Hobart International Exhibition but they reported there were no pictures of sufficient merit to justify its addition to our National Collection.61

In London, the selectors continued to purchase from the RA. They purchased Maurice Greiffenhagen’s Judgement of Paris in 1896 and this arrived in Sydney in February 1897. They directed that a number of remarks be sent to the London selectors including it seems to be generally felt that the composition is decidedly cramped. The drawing of the male figure is bad throughout, while the hands and feet of Venus leave much to be desired. Although a more modern rendering of the theme would have been more difficult, it would have met with a greater measure of appreciation here, than this … In spite of these drawbacks, the picture is a satisfactory addition to our Collection.62 Unlike previous vague feedback to the London selectors e.g. requesting distinctive paintings, these comments are explicit about the faults which the Trustees found in the work.63

The two works purchased by the Council of the RA from its exhibition of 1897, however, received favourable comments from the Trustees. On 11th Oct. 1897, the Secretary wrote about The Garden by the River by John Henry Yeend King I am delighted to advise you that this fine work… is highly appreciated both by the lay and art public. On 15th April 1898 he wrote about The Sea hath its Pearls (see Figure 15) by William Henry Margetson.64 This picture … on account of this delicate treatment and pleasing subject will no doubt meet with popular appreciation.

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Figure 15 – William Henry Margetson, The sea hath its pearls, oil on canvas, Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. At the meeting on 15th June 1897, the Trustees read a letter from Devitt asking their views about acquiring a painting by East. Devitt pointed out that it would cost the Trustees only £500 or £600 instead of the East’s usual price of £1,000. On 21st July, they agree to purchase a work by East provided funds were available

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The selectors continued to purchase works in London but, aware of the Trustees’ objections to recent purchases, they asked for the Trustees’ opinion of the purchase of Frank Brangwyn’s The Scoffers and John Batten’s Snowdrop and the seven little men.65 The Trustees deliberated and Julian Ashton prepared a draft letter which is approved by the Trustees at their meeting on 15th June 1898. It was sent three days later. The comments about The Scoffers were favourable but faintly negative about The Sea Hath its Pearls and The Garden by the River (see earlier comments above). The comments about The Scoffers included I am pleased to report that the Trustees pronounce a very favourable verdict in this work. Powerful, brilliant and original, the picture will, after the first shock caused by the surprising novelty of its daring execution take its place as one of our prize possessions. The most curious aspect of the comments about the other paintings is not the comments themselves but that they contradict remarks made less than a year previously. The selectors were discovering that the Trustees could, and did, change their minds about the merits of works.66

In August 1897, the London selectors advised that the painting purchased from selector Alfred East, A Sunlit Haven, had been shipped to Sydney.67 There is no record of its arrival in Sydney but it would have arrived in October 1897. Again the London selectors asked the Trustees for their opinion of this and other works purchased at this time. A favourable comment was sent on 24th January 1899.68 In March, the Trustees resolved to offer East their congratulations on his election as an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA).69

The London selectors continued to purchase paintings for the Gallery until The Angler by David Murray, RA arrived on 19th March 1902. The Trustees expressed regret that it had been purchased. They called a special meeting three days later and as a result of their discussions cabled London Disappointed with Murray’s ‘Angler’ make no further purchases await letter. Following the next meeting in April, Du Faur, the President of Trustees, wrote to Devitt.70

This letter, dated 21st April, listed the defects of The Angler.

In the first place it is not the work as exhibited in 1895, as clearly shown by reproductions in “Royal Academy Pictures” Pt IV 1895 – fo. 158 – but has been altered by the insertion of trees concealing the distance as shown on the right hand corner of the original work; the insertion , in the Trustees opinion, having been made in an inferior manner, with a very unfortunate result,

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While the clouds have been altered so carelessly that, to some extent, they show in front of the trees. Again the work, if original, is seven (7) years old; and, having apparently failed in that time to find a purchaser in Europe, has, it would appear been sent out as “good enough for Australia”! Thirdly, as to the statement of special reduction in price, in our favour (sic) from £750 to £500 the Trustees happen to have been advised that some three (3) years since, a painting by D Murray, named “The Angler” was shown in the Exhibition at Bruxelles, and offered to a friend of theirs for £500 – who has since written as follows, - “had your people bought without showing who they were, I think you have had got it for less!”

As can be seen from the letter71, the Trustees possessed a reproduction of the work as it was exhibited at the RA in 1895 (See Figure 13) and compared the painting with the reproduction. In this letter the Trustees also said how they had told the London selectors since 1891 the characteristics of the works they wished to acquire and then listed a number of works purchased in London which they felt did not come up to those standards. The letter ends with the Trustees criticising East’s A Sunlit Haven (see above). It seems that The Angler spurred the Trustees to express the frustration that they had felt over the last eleven years with some of the purchases made by the selectors. Devitt, when he received the letter, was probably shocked as there is no record of adverse comments about some of these works in the Trustees’ minutes. Devitt, replied on 30th May stating he will reply in detail, shortly.72

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Separately, East wrote to the Trustees expressing regret that his work did not meet with approval of the Trustees and offered to exchange it for his painting exhibited at the RA that year. The Trustees agree and The Valley of the Lambourne (see Figure 16) arrived the following year.73

Figure 16 – Alfred East, The Valley of the Lambourne, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Devitt replied to the Du Faur’s letter on 15th August 1902. This letter included nine handwritten pages listing not only the works mentioned in the letter of 21st April but other purchases made since 1891. The list forms Appendix G. There are 21 works (including one sculpture and some watercolours) and compares any comments made in the letter with previous comments made by Trustees. It showed the inconsistencies of the Trustees’ comments and obviously the London selectors resented the tone of Du Faur’s letter.

Devitt’s letter was discussed or deferred at three Trustees’ meetings.74 On the 28th November 1902, the Trustees finally resolved to discontinue the London Selection Committee (see above) but when East asked that he be retained the Trustees agreed that his services be retained. His honorarium was reduced from £100 to £30 per annum.75

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The acquisition of British and Foreign works continued slowly during the first decade of the twentieth century. There were two reasons. The first was the reduction in the Parliamentary vote to purchase works. In 1900, it was £2,666.13s 6d but until 1912 when it was increased to £3,500, the average annual vote was £1,750.76 The other reason was that most of the vote was spent on Australian works except in 1906/7 when works were purchased from the New Zealand International Exhibition in Christchurch.

While some works were purchased77, other acquisitions were the result of gifts and bequests. The Trustees were starting to become more selective as the minutes record in 1904 that when they were willing to accept only 4 of the 17 pictures offered by a Mr C E Woolcott, he withdrew all works.78 In August 1904, East wrote to the Trustees that French artists gladly accepted from the French Government between 1/6 to 1/10 of their prices for paintings in order to secure the distinction of being represented in their National Collection. He asked to be allowed to follow this plan for the AGNSW. The Trustees agreed. However this scheme did not eventuate and East resigned after the purchase of Hoffbauer’s Sur les Toits (see above).79

In 1906, Du Faur and Mann visited the New Zealand International Exhibition in Christchurch where six British oils, one sculpture and seven watercolours were purchased (see Figure 17).

Figure 17 – John Seymour Lucas, The King’s rival, oil on canvas, Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1901. Purchased from the New Zealand International Exhibition, 1906-07.

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All six painters had exhibited at the RA and three of the works had been exhibited there.80 Two purchases show that individual Trustees could still exert substantial influence on purchases. In 1909, Sir James Fairfax travelling in Europe suggested that some Spanish works be acquired and two were purchased.81 In 1908, Sir Joseph Carruthers (an ex- Premier) suggested the AGNSW should request a loan of the famous La Perouse picture. The French Government refused but allowed the Gallery to have a copy made. This arrived in 1911 but was transferred to the Mitchell Library less than a year later.82 At the Trustees’ meeting held on 5th August 1910, Du Faur and Mann submitted separate reports on the types of British and Foreign works that the Gallery should collect.83 While the reports were similar, Mann’s is more specific. He said he believed that the objective is to purchase modern work – for a Modern Art Collection. This is an unequivocal statement of what has been and will remain for many years the AGNSW collections policy. Mann then listed which schools and works should be sought. This would be achieved by asking the President and two members of the Councils of Foreign Societies … to select examples of modern work.84 He then listed the organizations to be approached, some of their members, works desired and proposed prices. The detail in the report varies from country to country.

France - Académie des Beaux Arts - one landscape and one figure subject - £300 to £500 each

Germany - Artists' Association, Munich - might be approached in a similar manner.

Belgium - The Society Royal des Beaux Art – no further details

Italy - Venetian Academy – no details of works - up to £425

British - Scotch (sic) Artists are not well represented - Royal Scottish Society of Artists85 has among its members, the most prominent of Painters … Sir James Guthrie - President, … one landscape and one figure (subject)… not exceeding £250 each.

He added that Russia, Spain and America were to be approached in due course. Mann’s and Du Faur’s recommendations were accepted86 and the Gallery wrote to the organisations mentioned in the reports asking for recommendations. The result was mixed: the Munich academy sent its latest catalogue and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Russia recommended works by one of their members: Repin. However this exercise did not result in any works being acquired.

Chapter 5 – The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 Page 99

The first work purchased by Arthur George Temple after his appointment as selector was Walter Barns Wollen’s Britain’s Watchdogs (see Figure 18).87

Figure 18 – Walter Barns Wollen, Britain’s Watchdogs, oil on canvas. Collection Museums Sheffield. From Royal Academy & New Gallery Pictures and Sculpture for 1909.

When Lloyd’s letter was read on 27th October 191188, the Trustees stated that the work did not fully meet with the views of the Trustees and cabled Temple to Defer further Purchases, writing. Lloyd explained that the original purchaser had paid £400 for the work after it was exhibited at the RA in 1909, that the current owner offered it to Temple for £300, but Temple managed to obtain it for £220 including insurance and packing. Mann’s return letter stated that the Trustees wished to obtain distinctive examples of figure or landscape subjects by those artists whose works have lately been specially noted and adds the names of several artists whom the Gallery wishes to acquire: Charles Shannon ARA, William Orpen, Sir James Guthrie, A. H. La Thangue ARA, Arnsby (sic) Brown, ARA, Charles Sims, ARA.89

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On 27th November a telegram from Lloyd advised that Temple was also negotiating for two other works – one each by Hughes Stanton and Charles Sims. The telegram asked if these purchases should be cancelled. The Trustees decided to allow Temple to complete these purchases.90 The Trustees initially decided to ask Wollen to exchange Britain’s Watchdogs for another work but they were advised by Lloyd that as it had been purchased from a third party this was not an appropriate course of action. It was finally sold in London in 1917 for 52 guineas.91

In 1912, an exhibition of eminent British Artists was held in Wellington. Mann visited the exhibition and purchased one oil and two watercolours.92 On 2nd May 1912, London cabled Chance bargains Friday, Christies, Clausen, Stott, Oliver Hall, Swan – may we spend thousand. Temple strongly advises. After consultation with other Trustees, the President replied Approved omit Swan. On the 7th May London cabled Secured Clausen - Stott - Hall £730.93

Longstaff was also buying works at this time. On 27th October 1912, London sent a telegram stating that there was chance of acquiring Millais’ Woodman’s Daughter for £2,000. The Trustees declined.94

In January 1913, the work by Charles Sims that Temple had been negotiating for in November arrived and the Trustees decided to inform Mr. Temple that this work had not met with the approval of the Trustees … and in their opinion was not a representative work by Mr. Sims. Sims was one of the artists that Mann’s letter of 31st October 1912 mentioned that the Gallery wished to purchase.95 The Trustees wrote to Temple about an exchange and in April 1913 Sims was considering the matter.96

At this time, both Temple and Longstaff informed the Trustees that an outstanding modern collection was to be auctioned at Christies in May. The Trustees cabled Lloyd to inform Longstaff he might spend up to £2,500 to purchase one or two really important works - preferably artists not represented.97 By the time the sale occurred, Mann was now Director and Secretary and this is covered in the next Chapter.

Chapter 5 – The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 Page 101

Chapter 5 - Notes

1 On 18th November 1874, the Minster for Justice and Public Instruction, George Wigram Allen, moved a bill for the management of the library, museum and art gallery. This bill did not proceed as the Legislative Assembly decided there were more pressing matters to be dealt with. ‘Legislative Assembly’, SMH, 19th Nov 1874, pp. 2, 3.

2 The Library and Art Gallery Act, No. 54 of 1899 was triggered not by any concern about the AGNSW but to provide a legal frame work for the promised bequest of David Scott Mitchell. Although Mitchell did not die until 1907, he informed the Public Library of NSW of his intention on 17th October 1898. G D Richardson, ‘Mitchell, David Scott (1836 – 1907)’, ADB.

3 The prize was established following a bequest by Richard Wynne, who died in 1895. Wynne gave a copy of the Cumean Sybil by Romanelli to the Gallery in 1877. Prizes, website.

4 One application was from Colin MacKay Smith who was a London selector from 1874 to 1886. In 1897, he wrote to the Minister complaining about the large expenditure on worthless pictures by the Trustees. Mins, 14th Apr 1897, Folio 399.

5 The Minutes say authority … be sought to alter Mr Layton’s title. There is no mention of promotion or expanded responsibilities. Mins, 18th May 1900, Folio 256.

6 He was 73. ‘Family Notices’, SMH, 27th May 1905, p. 10.

7 Mins 11/3160, 6th Jun 1905, Folio 221, 11/3160, 19th Jun 1905, Folios 223, 224 and 11/3160, 14th Jul 1905, Folio 232.

8 Mins, 11/3160, 22nd Jun 1905, Folio 255.

9 Richard Haese, ‘Mann, Gother Victor Fyers (1863 – 1948)’, ADB, . Viewed 14th Feb 2012.

10 No details of Layton’s illness is given although on 4th May 1898, reference is made to his long illness. Mins, 11/3158, 5th Mar 1896, Folio 257, 11/3158 4th May 1898, Folio 547 and 11/3159 16th Jan 1903, Folio 530.

11 Mins, 11/3159, 28th Apr 1896, Folio 96.

12 Six British oils were purchased at this Exhibition. Mins, 11/3160, 28th Sep 1906, Folio 340, 23rd Nov 1906, Folio 530.

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13 The cost of Mann’s trip could have been the main objection of the Trustees. Eccleston Du Faur, “Minute for Board Meeting”, 27th Nov 1908, 3 page typescript inserted in Mins 11/3160 between Folios 509, 510, Mins 11/3160, 27th Nov 1908, Folio 498, Mins 11/3161, 26th Oct 1909, Folios 22,23.

14 Although Mann attended architecture lectures at the University of Sydney, he did not graduate. Alumni Sidneienses: Alumni of the University of Sydney website. Mins 11/3161, 31st May 1912, Folio 216.

15 Mann didn’t get an increase in salary. The Minutes record that the Trustees to be invited to interview the Public Service Board on the question of additional salary. Mins 11/3161, 30th May 1913, Folio 292.

16 The most common reason for resigning was death.

17 The Act stated that two Trustees were to be appointed by the Governor on the nomination of the Art Society of New South Wales. Ashton had resigned in 1899. Library and Art Gallery Act No 54, 1899, Paragraph 18.

18 Sir Joseph spent 45 years in the NSW Parliament and was Premier from 1904 to 1907. John M Ward, ‘Carruthers, Sir Joseph Hector McNeil (1856–1932)’, ADB, . Viewed 5th Nov 2012.

19 Stewart Reed, ‘A Faithful reproduction’, SL Magazine, Autumn 2013, pp. 30-31.

20 She paid for the acquisition of Edwin Long’s A Dorcas Meeting in the 6th Century in 1889. Mins 11/3157, 15th May 1889, Folios 427 and 428 and Mins 11/3160, 3rd May 1907, Folio 384.

21 Heather Curnow, ‘Nicolas Chevalier (1826 – 1902)’, Art and Australia, Volume 18, Number 3, Autumn 1981, p. 259.

22 Mins 11/3158, 24th Apr 1894, Folio 111. According to the Minutes, the selectors replied in a letter dated 8th June 1894 that they would watch carefully for rising artists. This letter cannot be found. Mins 11/3158, 18th Jul 1894, Folio 122.

23 There are no details of what was discussed. Mins 11/3158, 28th Mar 1895, Folio 170.

24 Josiah Mullens was a stockbroker (1826 – 1915) who served as a Trustee from 1885 to 1915.

25 Home at this time meant England or the UK. Mins 11/3158, 16th Apr 1896, Folio 266

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26 These folios also contain the letters referred to below. Extraordinary meeting - Mins 11/3158, 30th Apr 1896, Folios 272, 273 and Special meeting - Mins 11/3158, 28th May 1896, Folios 283 to 294.

27 The letters were sent to London on 3rd June 1896. The letter to East was signed by Fairfax.

28 Letter, Greening to Layton, 31st Jul 1896, reference CFB12/1896. 29 The minutes record Chevalier resigned in a letter to James Fairfax dated 20th May 1897 explaining that he had not previously resigned his seat. This letter is not in the AGNSW archives. Mins 11/3158, 21st Jul 1897, Folio 446.

30 The extracts are dated 5th and 13th Dec 1896. In his letter Carlisle says he would have been happy to continue being a selector. Letter, Greening to Layton, 18th Dec 1896, reference CFB23/1896.

31 This letter was addressed to James Fairfax and is not in the AGNSW archives. It is recorded in the minutes. Mins 11/3158, 17th Sep 1896, Folio 386.

32 This was an oil by Pils, 2 watercolours by Chevalier and a watercolour by himself. All are still in the collection. Mins 11/3159, 20th Sep 1901, Folio 326.

33 Mins 11/3158, 19th May 1897, Folio 410.

34 The full cable read Disappointed with Murray’s “Angler” make no further purchases await letter. The Trustees were busy that day. They also laid the keystone of the Gallery’s new portico. Mins 11/3159, 24th Mar 1902, Folio 443.

35 The Trustees compared the work received with the illustration in The Pictures of 1895. The pictures of 1895, Art Journal, p. 158. Letter, Layton to Devitt, 21st Apr 1902. Reference LB17, Folio 672 to 676.

36 Mins 11/3159, 18th Jul 1902, Folio 472.

37 This was done in 1903. A Sunlit Haven is now in the Alfred East Art Gallery in Kettering, England. Mins 11/3159, 15th Aug 1902, Folio 481 and 482. Your paintings: A Sunlit Haven website, . Viewed 5th Dec 2012.

38 The report was attached to a letter from Greening and was received by the Trustees on 24th Sep 1902. Pictures &c. purchased for National Art Gallery of N S Wales since 1891, 22nd Aug 1902, references CFB25/1902.

39 Their telegraphic address was Boomerang.

Chapter 5 – The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 Page 104

40 Mins 11/3159, 13th Mar 1903, Folios 539, 540.

41 The Trustees considered his position at a meeting held on 28th Aug 1903 and the drawing of his salary was mentioned. Mins 11/3160, 28th Aug 1903, Folio 49.

42 A honorarium of £30 annum was offered. Mins 11/3160, 25th Sep 1903, Folios 57 and 58.

43 Now titled Among the rooftops. 44 8000 francs was equal to £320 at the time. This was reported by both B S Lloyd and Co and East in letters read at a Trustees’ meeting. Mins 11/3160, 25th Aug 1905, Folio 248.

45 Mins 11/3160, 22nd Sep 1906, Folios 257. The letters are inserted between Folios 260 and 261.

46 A missing letter from East dated 28th Nov 1905 is mentioned in these minutes. Mins 11/3160, 23rd Mar 1906, Folios 299, 300.

47 East’s two letters are missing. Mins 11/3160, 3rd Aug 1906, Folio 324 and Mins 11/3160, 3rd 24th Aug 1906, Folios 333, 334.

48 This work was painted by George Harcourt Sephton (1860-1923). It was deaccessioned and sold on 20th Dec 1956. Mins 11/3160, 24th Aug 1906, Folios 331, 332.

49 The gallery did not buy it. Mins 11/3160, 3rd Apr 1908, Folio 453 and Mins 11/3160, 24th Jul 1908, Folio 477.

50 MacColl takes several months to reply. Mins 11/3161, 28th Jan 1910, Folio 32. Letter McColl to Mann, 4th Aug 1910. Reference CFB 6/1911 (sic).

51 MacColl says he cannot comment on works by native artists. Letter, McColl to Mann, 22nd Jan 1911. Mins 11/3161, Letter and report - copies between Folios 123 and 124.

52 Mins 11/3161, 24th Mar 1911, Folio 123.

53 The request is addressed to a Frank G Lloyd of B S Lloyd and Co. He is later referred to as F Graham Lloyd. Mins 11/3161, 24th Mar 1911, Folio 123.

54 By this date, there are five works by Longstaff in the collection including portraits of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Mins 11/3161, 26th May 1911, Folio 138.

55 John Longstaff (1862-1941) was an academic painter who had exhibited at the RA from 1891. Alfred George Temple (1848-1928) had been the Director of the Guildhall Art gallery since its opening in 1886. Mins 11/3161, 30th Jun 1911, Folios 143 and 144. Algernon Graves, Royal Academy of Arts: Complete Dictionary of Contributors, from 1769 to 1904, Volume 5, p. 90. Arthur George Temple, Guildhall Memories, p. 85.

Chapter 5 – The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 Page 105

56 Longstaff’s style is well known to art historians. Temple was a career civil servant who worked for the Corporation of London for 44 years. He was appointed as the first Director of the Guildhall Art Gallery in 1886. In his autobiography to refers to his many friends who were RAs and the artists and works he admires. A G Temple, Guildhall Memories, passim.

57 Mins 11/3161, 27th Oct 1911, Folio 166.

58 Temple’s services were to be terminated on 8th Aug 1913. Mins 11/3161, 24th Nov 1913, Folio 281.

59 Mins 11/3161, 25th Apr 1911, Folio 286.

60 1894 was the height of the 1890s depression (see Chapter 3). Mins 11/ Mins 11/3158, 20th Mar 1894, Folio 106. AGNSW Annual Reports 1894 to 1935.

61 Briton Riviere’s Requiescat, later purchased by the London selectors in 1898, was in this exhibition. Mins 11/3158, 21st Mar 1895, Folios 161, 162.

62 Mins 11/3158, 24th Feb 1897, Folio 391.

63 This painting was deaccessioned and sold in 1996. The only image discovered shows the painting was in bad condition so it is impossible to judge whether the Trustees’ comments were fair.

64 These paintings, while both purchased at the same time arrived on different dates. These comments are quoted in a letter sent to Layton by Greening in 1902. The Sea hath its Pearls became one of the most popular works in the AGNSW collection. Letter, Greening to Layton, Pictures &c, purchased for National Art Gallery of N. S. Wales since 1891, 22nd Aug 1902, Reference CFB25/1902.

65 Mins 11/3158, 27th Apr 1898, Folios 543.

66 . These comments are also quoted in Greening’s letter to Layton in 1902. There is no comment about Snowdrop and the Seven Little Men dated 18th Jun 1898 but Greening’s letter quotes other (favourable) comments. Letter, Greening to Layton, Pictures &c, purchased for National Art Gallery of N. S. Wales since 1891, 22nd Aug 1902, Reference CFB25/1902.

67 Letter, Greening to Layton, Pictures &c, purchased for National Art Gallery of N. S. Wales since 1891, 22nd Aug 1902, Reference CFB25/1902. Mins 11/3158, 14th Sep 1898, Folio 34.

68 Letter dated 26th Aug 1898 reported in Mins 11/3159, 5th Oct 1898, Folio 43.

69 Mins 11/3159, 15th Mar 1899, Folio 82.

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70 Mins 11/3159, 21st Mar 1902, Folio 435, 11/3159, 24th Mar 1902, Folio 443 and 11/3159, 18th Apr 1902, Folio 449.

71 Letter, Du Faur to Devitt, 21st Apr 1902, reference LB17, Folios 672 to 676.

72 Mins 11/3159, 18th Jul 1902, Folio 472.

73 In 1913 East gave the work A Sunlit Haven to the gallery that now bears his name in Kettering England. Mins 11/3159, 15th Aug 1902, Folios 481, 482.

74 Mins 11/3159, 19th Sep 1902, Folio 493, 11/3159, 17th Oct 1902, Folio 504 and 11/3159, 21st Nov 1902, Folio 509.

75 Mins 11/3160, 28th Aug 1903, Folio 49, and 11/3160, 25th Sep 1903, Folios 57, 58.

76 The Trustees tried to have the Vote increased during this period. In 1908, they requested £5,000 instead of £3,000. They were unsuccessful. AGNSW Annual Reports 1900 to 1913. Mins 11/3160, 27th May 1904, Folio 114,

77 The minutes show repeatedly that works offered were declined by the Trustees.

78 Mins 11/3160, 27th May 1904, Folio 114, and 11/3160, 26th Aug 1903, Folio 136.

79 Mins 11/3160, 23rd Sep 1904, Folios 145, 146 and 11/3160, 25th Nov 1904, Folio 164.

80 See Appendix F.

81 Both works have been deaccessioned. Mins 11/3161, 22nd Oct 1909, Folio 15, 11/3161, 26th Nov 1909, Folio 20 and 11/3161, 27th May 1910, Folio 52.

82 From 1911, the AGNSW transferred many works considered to have more historical interest than artistic merit to the Mitchell Library. Mins 11/3160, 25th Sep 1908, Folio 489 and 11/3161, 27th May 1910, Folio 54.

83 Neither report mentions Australian works. Mann’s report states that the Gallery had 93 British oils and 73 Foreign Oils excluding those in the Country Loan Collection. The annual report for 1910 stated 110 works were on loan to country centres. This included Old Master copies and watercolours. E Du Faur, Proposed Representation for the purchase of Works of Art, August 1910, G V F Mann, Proposed Representation for the purchase of Works of Art, August 1910.

84 This and following quotes are from Mann’s report. G V F Mann, Proposed Representation for the purchase of Works of Art, August 1910.

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85 While there are at least three organisations with similar names, there is none with this exact name. Sir James Guthrie was President of the Royal Scottish Academy from 1902 to 1919. Sir James Guthrie (1859-1930), Painter, National Portrait Gallery website.

86 Mins 11/3161, 5th Aug 1910, Folio 68.

87 The Trustees had already seen a reproduction. Royal Academy & New Gallery Pictures and Sculpture for 1909, p. 58. Letter, Lloyd to Mann, 8th Sep 1911, reference CFB56/1911.

88 Mins 11/361, 27th Oct 1911.

89 Letter, Mann to Lloyd, 31st Oct 1911, reference LB25, Folio 640A.

90 The telegrams were sent on 1st Nov 1911. Mins 11/3161, 24th Nov 1911, Folio 174.

91 This painting in now in the collection of Museums Sheffield. Mins 11/3161, 23rd Mar 1911, Folio 199, 11/3161, 28th Jun 1912, Folio 221 and 11/3162, 29th Jun 1917, Folio 85. Your paintings: Britain’s Watch-Dogs website. . Viewed 29th Jan 2013.

92 This was during the period when Mann was waiting for a decision from the Public Service Board about his appointment as Director. Mins 11/3161, 26th Apr 1912, Folio 208, 209 and 31/3161, 31st May 1912, Folio 215.

93 Clausen, Stott and Hall exhibited at the RA. It is unknown which Swan was referred to in the telegram but the AGNSW already had two works by John Macallan Swan, RA. Mins 11/3161, 31st May 1912, Folio 215.

94 Mins 11/3161, 27th Oct 1912, Folios 250, 251.

95 Mins 11/3161, 24th Jan 1913, Folio 271. Letter, Mann to Lloyd, 31st Oct 1911, reference LB25, Folio 640A.

96 Mins 11/3161, 25th Apr 1913, Folio 286.

97 Mins 11/3161, 25th Apr 1913, Folio 286.

Chapter 5 – The Du Faur years: 1894 - 1913 Page 108

Chapter 6 – Moving to Modern? – 1913 - 1935 This chapter discusses the period from Mann’s appointment as Director in 1913 to 1935 when the AGNSW bought its first Impressionist painting: Camille Pissarro’s Peasant’s Houses, Eragny1 (see Figure 18).

Figure 19 – Camille Pissarro, Peasants' houses, Eragny, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. The only building work undertaken in this period was a small conservation workshop and storage building at the rear of the Gallery.2

The Trustees spent a considerable amount of time during this period discussing the acquisition of an applied art collection for the AGNSW. While some examples had been acquired as far back as the 1870s, the Trustees, especially John Sulman who was President from 1919 to 1934, were keen to increase the scope and size of the collection.3

Also during this period the two bronze equestrian groups and the last of the four bronze panels on the façade were installed.

Chapter 6 – Moving to modern? - 1913 - 1935 Page 109

The first Archibald Prize was awarded in 1921 following the bequest of Trustee Jules François Archibald4 in 1919.5 The bequest of John Sulman who died in 1934 resulted in the first Sulman prize being awarded in 1936.6

Mann’s appointment as Director and Secretary in 1913 resulted in his role changing. While the Trustees still made the ultimate decision about which works were acquired7, his responsibility was increasing. In 1914, the Trustees decided that Mann could visit Europe with a view of obtaining whatever information that would be useful to the Gallery and to be commissioned to purchase works of art found suitable.8 This shows a great degree of confidence in Mann’s abilities and could be based on almost twenty years of working together since his temporary appointments in the 1890s.9

Soon after his appointment in 1913 he began to sign his letters ‘Director’ (omitting the word Secretary). In 1922 when the Trustees hosted a luncheon for the Premier and Minister for Education, Mann was included.10 The Trustees sent Mann to Europe again in 1926. The letter requesting permission for the trip from the Minster of Education was signed by Mann, not a Trustee as would be expected for this type of correspondence.11 He was conservative in his tastes and he declared his opposition to modernism on his return from this trip.12 At the Trustee’s meeting on 23rd Sep 1927, Mann notified the Trustees that he would be retiring on 8th Oct 1928.13

On 2nd January 1929, James Stuart MacDonald (see Figure 2014) was appointed as Director. He resented his limited authority and having to act as Secretary as well as Director. Another conservative, he was blindly hostile to nearly all twentieth-century painting and much before.15 MacDonald was Director at the end of 1935.16

Trustees

In 1915, Du Faur, the President died. Sir James Fairfax was appointed Figure 20 - John Longstaff, J S President in his place but died in 1919 – the last of the original MacDonald as a boy, Trustees. John Sulman became President in 1919 and died in 1934 1882, oil on canvas. Collection of Bendigo when Sir Philip Street (a judge) was appointed President. Art Gallery

Chapter 6 – Moving to modern? - 1913 - 1935 Page 110

Seventeen Trustees were appointed between 1913 and 1935 and 16 retired or resigned during the same period. This includes artist Lionel Lindsay who was appointed in 1918 but resigned in 1929 to go overseas and was reappointed in 1934.17 Other artist Trustees in this period were J S Watkins (appointed 1932), Sydney Long (1933) and Sydney Ure Smith (1927). In 1921, William Herbert Ifould was appointed as a Trustee. He was the Principal Librarian of the Public Library of New South Wales which contained a large collection of artworks including many transferred from the AGNSW. When Mann went to Europe in 1926 Ifould became Acting Director.

A Trustee who had considerable effect on acquisitions was company director Howard Hinton who was appointed in 1919.18 Along with Sydney Ure Smith, two Trustees who championed modern art were James McGregor (appointed 1929) and Charles Lloyd Jones (1934).

London selectors

When Mann was appointed Director, Temple was being informed that his appointment would end on 8th August 1913 and Longstaff was about to buy works at an auction at Christies. Temple, when he received the Gallery’s letter, asked that he be allowed to continue in his previous role. The Trustees agreed to retain his services but only to recommend works to the Trustees.19 Longstaff also continued to recommend works.

In March 1915, it was reported that Temple’s term of office would terminate on 8th August.20 From then to 1919, Longstaff remained the Gallery’s sole representative in London (apart from B S Lloyd & Co). At a meeting in August 1919, Trustee Philip Morton21 moved that Longstaff invite John Burns, Mr Frank Brangwyn ARA and Sir George Frampton RA to join him to create a London Selection Board.22 At the Trustees’ meeting in January 1920, it was reported that all had joined the Selection Board.23

The London Board24 initially held regular meeting and the minutes were forwarded to Sydney. At their meeting on 12th December 1919, they suggested that the Trustees should allow the committee to appoint a substitute if a member was absent. The Trustees rejected this as it could mean that the London Board could have members who the Trustees did not know or approve of being involved in the selection of works for the AGNSW.25

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At their meeting on 26th November, 1920 the Trustees disapproved of two works that had been purchased by the London Board when they arrived in Sydney.26 At the January 1921 meeting they decided to request the London Board to defer further expenditure on purchases for 6 months.27 On 24th June 1921, a report on purchases by the London Board was discussed and it was decided to terminate their services.28

However in May 1922 Longstaff, in a letter to the Trustees, suggested that Julius Olsson RA be commissioned to purchase a work for the gallery.29 He mentioned a work by Arnesby Brown RA. The Trustees agreed and decided if a work by Arnesby Brown was to be purchased, it should have cattle as the principal subject.

His The marshes near Norwich (Figure 21) was purchased by Olsson in July 1922.30 Olsson continued to purchase works in 1922. He did not purchase any works after that year although he continued to send information about paintings to the AGNSW.

Figure 21 - John Arnesby Brown, The marshes near Norwich, oil on canvas. Sold 1996. From AGNSW catalogue 1928

In August 1925 he recommended some works from the RA exhibition but these were declined. The minutes record that the Trustees thanked him for his services implying his services had been terminated. In 1928 he claimed he had been the Trustee’s official representative for some years and suggested he be paid an honorarium. The Trustees decided to pay him £50.31

In December 1925, the Trustees decided to replace F Graham Lloyd as their business agent in London from 1st March 1926.32 In February 1925 the Trustees noted in the minutes that Lloyd had written expressing regret at the severance of his connection with the Gallery.33 A new business agent, W F Molloy, who was located in the NSW Agents-General office commenced duty on 1st July 1926.34

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Despite the termination of Olsson’s services, the Trustees decided that they would like two representatives in London. As the Director, Mann, was about to go to London they asked him to recommend two representatives or advisers. He wrote on May 1926 stating he had appointed Sir William Orpen and John Arnesby Brown to form a London Advisory Board subject to the Trustees’ approval. The Trustees gave their approval at a meeting held on 25th June 1926.35 The works purchased by these advisors seem to have been accepted by the Trustees until 1928 when the minutes record London Committee to be informed that the Trustees would prefer works by artists not already represented in this Collection.36 The two continued as London Advisors until June 1931 when the Trustees decided to discontinue their fees.37 Orpen died on 29th September 1931. There is no further mention of Arnesby Brown or of any other representative in London up to the end of 1935.

Acquisitions 1913 - 1935

The change of title for Mann initially made very little difference as far as acquisitions were concerned. At the first Trustees’ meeting after he became Director, a telegram from Lloyd was received during the meeting informing them that works by La Thangue and Fisher had been purchased at the McCulloch sale for £729.

In this period, like earlier years, a large number of British and Foreign works were offered by vendors to the Galley for purchase. Again the majority were rejected with the Trustees preferring to purchase through their selectors in London or from two visits by the Director to Europe.

In a similar way the Gallery was offered gifts and bequests and many of these were accepted.

Again a Trustee, John St Vincent Welch, recommended two works which he had seen at the Salon in Paris earlier that year. The works were Livre de Paix by Edgard Maxence and Le Matin - Côte d’Azur by Jean-Baptiste Olive. At their meeting on 26th September 1913, the Trustees asked Lloyd to ascertain the lowest price that would be accepted for these works.38 At their following meeting after a cable from Lloyd, the Trustees authorized that £1,000 could be offered for the Maxence and £680 for the Olive (which was eventually purchased for £420).39 This was the first major purchase from the Salon since 190540 and it is unlikely that they would have purchased any works at this price from the Salon except for Welch’s intervention.

Chapter 6 – Moving to modern? - 1913 - 1935 Page 113

In 1914, the Government asked that the Trustees spend part of their vote to purchase works of art by artists resident in NSW. The Trustees agreed.41 In 1914, 17 Australian works (including sculpture and watercolours) were purchased or commissioned compared to 5, 11 and 7 Australian works in 1913, 1912 and 1911 respectively.42

In February 1914, the Trustees discussed sending Mann to England and Europe with a view of obtaining whatever information that would be useful to the Gallery. He was also commissioned to purchase works. The Minister agreed and Mann went to Europe, but due to the outbreak of World War I the Trustees sought his return and he returned in November.43 He purchased a number of works during his stay in the UK. During the War years, the vote for purchases averaged £2,500 from 1914 to 1917. In 1918 and 1919 it was increased to £3,000 per annum. Longstaff continued to purchase works in the UK throughout the war.

In 1915, he finally arranged with Charles Sims to exchange The Swallows, with which the Trustees were unhappy when it was purchased in 1912 for another work, An Island Festival (see Figure 22), although this would cost another £300 which the Trustees agreed to pay.44 Figure 22 - Charles Sims, An Island Festival, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. From AGNSW catalogue 1919. In 1915, a Sydney company director, Howard Hinton, gave the first of many works to the Gallery. It was an Australian work and these were gratefully received by the Trustees until 1928 when, on an overseas trip, he started to give British and Foreign works to the AGNSW.45

In 1917, Longstaff recommended a work by John Charles Dollman but the Trustees rejected it.46

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At this time Sir William Orpen was an artist whom the Trustees wanted to be represented in the Gallery. In September 1917, the Trustees decided to ask Longstaff to consult Sir William Orpen about obtaining an example of his painting – either a portrait or figures. Subsequently in March 1918, Longstaff advised that there was such a demand for Orpen’s work it would not be possible to obtain one at present.47 In April 1925, the Trustees decided again to see if a work by Orpen was available. In 1926, Mann wrote to the Trustees when he was in London stating he has commissioned Orpen to paint a picture for the Gallery at a price of 100, 200 or 300 guineas the subject and medium of the work being left to the artists to decide.48 Three months later, Mann increased the amount to 500 guineas. Although the Trustees wanted a work by Orpen, they were not willing to accept any work so when a pencil drawing by Orpen of Charles Conder was offered to them by Anthony Hordern & Sons’ Art Gallery in 1927 for 55 guineas, it was declined.49 In 1931, Howard Hinton offered a pencil drawing by Orpen of Charles Conder to the gallery and it was accepted.50 In 1928, the minutes recorded that Orpen’s portrait was complete but the artist wished to retain it for further consideration.51

A week later the Trustees decided to purchase Orpen’s Italian Major from an exhibition of British Art at David Jones Art Gallery (see Figure 23). This appears to be a curious decision given that the Trustees were told that Orpen’s portrait had been completed a week earlier.52

Figure 23 – William Orpen, Italian major, oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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In November 1931 the Trustees asked their London agent to enquire if the Orpen self- portrait was still available and its price. Finally London told the Trustees that the pictures by late Sir Wm Orpen were not of gallery quality and no more is heard about the portrait(s).53

Towards the end of the War, Australian artist Fred Leist asked the Trustees to commission him to paint a work showing Australians in action. The Trustees were aware that he wasn’t the only Australian working as a war artist so they asked Longstaff to prepare a report on work being done in this area.54 This is the first indication of the creation of a number of war related works which would be acquired by the Gallery. Most are war scenes painted by Australian artists encompassing a wide range of subjects.55 There are some British works selected by Longstaff. The Trustees also decided to commission portraits of two French Generals. They decide on Marshal Foch and General Pau and ask London to suggest artists.

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Foch was painted by Jacques Blanche for £525 (see Figure 24) and Pau by Paul Dupuy for £376.5.3.56

In 1919, the Gallery purchased four French war medallions. In the same year the Trustees agreed to an exhibition in the Gallery of drawings by French artists and eight of these were acquired by the Gallery.57

Figure 24 - Jacques Blanche, Marshal Foch, oil on canvas. Sold 1996, whereabouts unknown.

In February 1918, Longstaff cabled recommending a painting by Laura Knight. It was purchased and arrived in Sydney in June 1919. At the July meeting, the minutes recorded that the Trustees regretted that a more representative example … had not been acquired.58 At this meeting, it was moved that other selectors be invited to join Longstaff in London.

In June 1920, Lloyd reported that three oils and a bronze head had been purchased in London. At the following meeting it was reported that Lloyd had managed to reduce the prices of two of the works. He paid £175 for the Arnesby Brown’s August Morning instead of £200 and 50 guineas for Marion Stokes’ Saint Elizabeth working for the poor instead of 60 guineas.

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In 1920, a subcommittee of Trustees chaired by John Sulman, reported on obsolete pictures and recommended that a number be removed from the collection. As a result approximately 15 oils (including Australian and Old Master copies) were sold, two oils were transferred to the Mitchell Library and one oil painting was destroyed due to its condition.59

In 1923, an exhibition of European works was held in Sydney, and later, Melbourne. The Trustees held a special meeting at the exhibition and purchased three French oils. The artists, La Gaston la Touche, Lucien Simon and Jules Alexis Muenier had all exhibited at the Salon in Paris and the AGNSW paid 80% of the catalogue price.60

The same year Trustee William Ifould was visiting Paris and went to the Salon and sent a photograph of Les Felins by Charles Watelet (see Figure 25) to Sydney and recommended its purchase. On his return the Trustees decided to purchase this work.61

Figure 25 – Charles Watelet, Les felins (The cats), oil on canvas. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. From AGNSW catalogue 1928.

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In 1924 a work by Daniel Vierge was offered to the Gallery by artist George Collingridge for £50 and the Trustees paid £45 for the work.62

In 1925 Trustee Pat Morton submitted a resolution that William Russell Flint’s The Lemnians, which was exhibited at the RA in 1924, be purchased. Morton quoted the 1924 Studio Magazine to the meeting which said it is exceeding dramatic and is not only painted with great technical power, but has a sureness of draughtsmanship and sumptuousness of colour quality. Julius Olsson, the Gallery’s London selector was also quoted and said it was a subject which does not appeal to artists but the public would like. The resolution was carried.63

In 1925, the Trustees discussed sending Mann to England and he left in early 1926 to acquire works for the collection as well as to have the authenticity of a number of works in the collection checked by overseas experts. Soon after he left, the SMH commented as the trustees … have acquired very few British and foreign modern pictures of note during recent years … Mr. Mann, … will acquire other examples to enrich this section of our national collection.64 By May 1926, Mann started purchasing works in London.65 On 12th May he wrote to the Trustees saying he was about to go to Paris and Venice with Orpen and Arnesby Brown who were about to be appointed as the new Advisory Board in London.66 No works were purchased in Paris but he purchased five oils at the Venice International Exhibition.67 Mann returned to duty at the Gallery on 1st November 1926.

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In 1928, Howard Hinton retired and went to England. He continued his practice of giving works to the Gallery but these were now English and not Australian. The other Trustees were not happy with the works that Hinton selected so the Trustees decided to defer acceptance until Hinton returned to Sydney.68 However Hinton applied for a further leave of absence which meant that he would not be in Sydney for some time.69 The offer of works by Hinton was discussed at a meeting on 18th January 1929. Hinton offered five oils, and a print. The Trustees decided to reject the oils but accept the print.70 Hinton kept applying for extensions to his leave and was away from the Gallery until September 1931. He did not stop offering works to the AGNSW while he was away. The minutes show many were accepted but not all. The rejection of his gift offended Hinton although he did not resign as a Trustee. Instead he started to give works to the Armidale Teachers College.71

In April/May 1930, there was an exhibition of French art in Melbourne. Mann went to inspect the works but did not recommend any for purchase.72

In 1931, the vote for purchase was reduced and remained low for the next five years with the average vote for purchases being £2,340.

In 1933, two important events occurred. The first was an exhibition at Sydney’s Blaxland Gallery73 of contemporary British art which opened on 19th April. First shown in Melbourne, it included many modern artists most of whom had not been seen in Sydney before. They included Augustus John74, Joseph Epstein, Richard Sickert, Duncan Grant, Roger Fry, C R W Nevinson, Mark Gertler, Ethel Walker, Matthew Smith, R O Dunlop, and Henry Rushbury. The exhibition was sympathically reviewed in the SMH but the reviewer ended his piece with the words The trustees of the National Gallery have decided not to make any purchases from it.75 This is not surprising as the Trustees with the Director, James McDonald, had shown their conservative taste in their purchases. This was changing, albeit slowly.

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Five new Trustees had been appointed since 1927. Two of the new Trustees were Sydney Ure Smith and James McGregor who were supportive of modern art.76 On 24th March 1933, the Trustees approved that a sum of £3000 … be placed at the disposal of Messrs S Ure Smith and J R McGregor to act in Europe in collaboration with Mr Lionel Lindsay in the purchase of works of art.77 Lindsay who had been a Trustee until 1929 was already in Europe. While Smith and McGregor were in favour of modern art, Lindsay was not.78 It is possible that their fellow Trustees considered that Lindsay would act as a counter balance to Smith and McGregor. At the same meeting Smith and McGregor were granted six months leave. They sailed to London on 11th April.79 The Trustees had second thoughts about the wisdom of having Smith and McGregor purchase works for the Gallery. At the Trustees’ meeting on 28th Apirl they arranged a special meeting to be held on 5th May. At that meeting Trustee Bertrand Waterhouse80 moved That it is the interest of the Trustees and the Gallery that the Director be sent to London to co-operate with Messrs Smith & McGregor in the buying of pictures. The Director, James MacDonald, was a well know opponent of modern art (see above). Trustee Sir Philip Street could not attend the meeting but a letter from him was read at the meeting.81 The motion was lost with two in favour and seven against.82

At the meeting on 23rd June, Sir Philip Street requested six months leave which was granted and he was asked to co-operate with Messrs Smith, McGregor and Lindsay in the purchasing of pictures.83 In October, the minutes record Letters from Mr Ure Smith re purchases recently made in London were noted with satisfaction and Smith was granted another six months leave of absence.84 MacGregor attended the next Trustees’ meeting in November 1933. There is no further mention of the purchases in the minutes.

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The Gallery’s first acquisition register85 records that 14 oils, two watercolours and two sculptures arrived in December 1933. It states that these were purchased by S Ure Smith and J R McGregor. There is no mention of Lindsay or Street. The works range widely in style. They included established artists who exhibited at the RA including George Clausen and James Bateman. Most, however, were by modern artists including some who were in the recent British art exhibition at the Blaxland Gallery: Ronald Ossory Dunlop, Duncan Grant, Augustus John, Ethel Walker, Jacob Epstein and John Nash. This was the first large scale purchase of modern British or Foreign works for the Gallery. One of the sculptures purchased was Meum by Epstein. This work (or another from the same edition) was exhibited at the Blaxland Gallery exhibition earlier that year.

In 1935, the AGNSW purchased its first impressionist painting, Camille Pissarro’s Peasant’s Houses, Eragny. It was painted in 1887, 13 years after the first impressionist exhibition in Paris. In 1894, the Trustees stated that they thought impressionist works should be avoided 86 Forty one years later, the Trustees changed their mind. By the 1930s the impressionist movement had been accepted by many major art museums.

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The AGNSW’s Pissarro was purchased in Sydney, not in Europe. The Society of Artists held their 1935 Annual Exhibition from 6th September to 4th October at the Department of Education’s Art Gallery in Loftus Street, Sydney.87 As well as the customary exhibition of works by members and others the exhibition included eleven French paintings for sale. The artists were Andre Bauchant, Andre Derain, Charles Dufresne, Raoul Dufy, Jean Lurcat, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Maurice Utrillo. The paintings were sent to Sydney by The Lefevre Galleries in London.88 While most of the works in the catalogue had prices shown, the French works did not but there was a biographical note for each French artist.89 There was also one French painting on loan from Harold Hinton in the exhibition.90 The AGNSW purchased the Pissarro for £1,000.91 The minutes have no information about why the Pissarro was selected. Monet and Pissarro were the two most established artists in the exhibition and by the 1930s their works were no longer controversial. However, less of Monet’s work was purchased by institutions in the British Empire (as it was) than Pissarro’s. By 1933 the National Gallery/Tate in London had purchased three paintings by Pissarro but only two by Monet.92 The National Gallery of Victoria had two works (purchased 1905 and 1927) by Pissarro but only one Monet (1913).93

In 1935, in purchasing the Pissarro, the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales continued with their tradition of making conservative purchases.

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Chapter 6 - Notes

1 It was purchased as La Chaumière. The literal translation is The thatched cottage.

2 This was demolished in 1971.

3 This is outside the scope of this thesis.

4 Archibald was baptised John Feltham. He renamed himself Jules François because of his love for French life and culture. Sylvia Lawson, ‘Archibald, Jules François (1856-1919)’,

ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

5 Mins 11/3162, 26th Sep 1919, Folio 248.

6 The Sulman Prize is awarded for the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project by an Australian artist. Prizes website, . Viewed 5th Sep 2012

7 As laid down in the 1899 Act.

8 Mins 11/3161, 27th Feb 1914, Folio 347.

9 After Mann’s retirement, the Trustees wrote His knowledge of artistic matters and his impartiality have won him and his office the respect of the Sydney artists of his day, and these same qualities, together with his administrative efficiency, have enabled the Trustees to build up the Gallery in a way that would have been impossible with a less competent and devoted officer in charge. Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year 1928.

10 John Longstaff, the Gallery’s London representative was also at this luncheon. Mins 11/3162, 25th May 1922, Folio 471.

11 This letter is written in the third person referring to The Director instead of I. Letter, Mann to Under-Secretary for Education, 15th Sep 1925, Mins 11/3163 between Folios 729 and 730.

12 Richard Haese, ‘Mann, Gother Victor Fyers (1863 – 1948)’, ADB,

. Viewed 14th Feb 2012.

Chapter 6 – Moving to modern? - 1913 - 1935 Page 124

13 This was Mann’s 65th birthday. Mins 11/3163, 23rd Sep 1927, Folio 932.

14 In granting permission to use this image, the Bendigo Art Gallery stipulated that the image could be no greater than 4 cm in height.

15 Geoffrey Serle, ‘MacDonald James Stuart (Jimmy), (1878–1952)’, ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

16 He left on 31st October 1936 to become Director of the National Gallery of Victoria. Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year 1936.

17 Lindsay resigned in 1949 and died in 1961.

18 He became a Vice President of Trustees in 1929 and President in 1958. Jean F Arnot,

'Ifould, William Herbert (1877–1969)’, ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

19 Mins 11/3161, 27th Jun 1913, Folio 297.

20 Mins 11/3161, 26th Mar 1915, Folio 447.

21 Philip Henry Morton (1862-1932) was an estate manager and politician. Mins 11/3162, 22nd Aug 1919, Folio 246.

22 Burns was a British politician; Brangwyn and Frampton were well known artists. Both artists have works in the AGNSW.

23 Longstaff was elected Chairman and F Graham Lloyd Secretary at the Board’s first Meeting. Mins 11/3162, 23rd Jan 1920, Folios 279 and 280.

24 The London Board referred to itself as the London Committee.

25 Only Longstaff, Frampton and Lloyd were present at this meeting. F Gram Lloyd, Minutes of London Selection Committee 12th December 1919. Mins 11/3162, 27th Feb 1920, Folio 288. 26 These were not British or Foreign works. They were works by Australian artists in Britain: Embarkation at Southampton by Dora Meeson Coates and On the Somme by Charles Bryant. Both works are no longer in the AGNSW collection. Mins 11/3162, 27th Feb 1920, Folio 353. 27 No reason is given in the minutes. Mins 11/3162, 28th Jan 1921, Folio 366.

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28 The reason given was that the embargo on purchasing imposed in January was likely to continue due to Gallery’s purchase of the Equestrian Groups. Mins 11/3162, 24th Jun 1921, Folio 403.

29 This letter was discussed at a meeting on 26th May 1922. While Longstaff is not mentioned as present at that meeting he may have been as the minutes usually only record the names of Trustees attending a meeting not anyone else. Immediately prior to this meeting the Trustees held a luncheon at the Gallery for the Premier and Minister of Education. Longstaff is shown as attending that luncheon. Mins 11/3162, 26th May 1922 Folios 471 and 474.

30 This painting was sold by the AGNSW on 19th Aug 1996 for $72,900.

31 Mins 11/3163, 28th Aug 1925, Folio 728 and 27th Jan 1928, Folio 957.

32 There is no explanation for this action in the minutes. Mins 11/3163, 18th Dec 1925, Folio 752.

33 Mins 11/3163, 26th Feb 1926, Folio 769.

34 There are few references to Molloy in future minutes which means that his work was probably satisfactory. Mins 11/3163, 27th Aug 1926, Folio 834.

35 Letter, Mann to Ifould, 11th May 1926, reference CFG721/1926. Mins 11/3163, 25th May 1926, Folio 810.

36 Orpen and Arnesby Brown purchased Longstock Winter by Mark Fisher RA (1841-1923) from the RA Winter Exhibition in January 1928. The AGNSW already had two works by this artist Mins 11/3163, 24th Feb 1928, Folio 963 and. 28th Aug 1928, Folio 975.

37 This may reflect their declining workload. Only three works were purchased in England during 1929, two in 1930 and none in 1931. Molloy’s fees were also cut around this time. Mins 11/3163, 26th June 1931, Folio 1197 and 26th June 1931, Folio 1209.

38 John St Vincent Welch, an insurance manager, was a Trustee from 1901 until his death in 1918. Mins 11/3161, 26th Sep1913, Folios 312, 313.

39 The work by Maxence is now titled The Book of Peace while the painting by Olive was deaccessioned and sold in 1959. Mins 11/3161, 24th Oct 1913, Folios 321.

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40 In 1912, Longstaff purchased Landscape hills at Jura by Auguste Pointelin. In a letter to Mann he states the work is in the Salon so he cannot get it until the end of June. In this letter he states the price is £60 but the Gallery paid £47.12.0 for the work. Letter, Longstaff to Mann, 24th May 1912, reference CFB46/1912. Mins 11/3161, 23rd Aug 1912, Folio 235.

41 The Trustees had a proviso. They would only purchase works which in their opinion are suitable for Exhibition in the National Art Gallery. .Mins 11/3161, 23rd Aug 1914, Folios 339, 340.

42 There were also gifts and bequests of Australian works between 1911 and 1914.

43 Mann was present at a Trustees’ meeting held on 24th Nov 1914. Mins 11/3161, 24th Nov 1914, Folio 422.

44 Mins 11/3162, 26th May 1916, Folio 6.

45 Howard Hinton is best known for his donation of approximately 1,200 artworks to the Armidale Teachers’ College in rural NSW from 1929. This collection is now in the New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale. He gave his first oil to the AGNSW in 1915. This was first of over 80 gifts up to 1935. He was a Trustee from 1919 until his death in 1948. E S Elphick, ‘Hinton, Howard’ (1867-1948), ADB,

. Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

46 Mins 11/3162, 19th Jan 1917, Folio 56.

47 Mins 11/3162, 28th Sep 1917, Folio 99 and 11/3162, 22nd Mar 1918, Folio 131.

48 Mins 11/3163, 24th Apr 1925, Folio 699 and 11/3163, 28th May 1926, Folio 802.

49 This was from an exhibition of Conder’s work. The AGNSW purchased two lithographs from the exhibition. ‘Conder Paintings’, SMH, 19 Jul 1927, p. 9. Mins 11/3163, 22nd Jul 1927, Folio 916.

50 This is probably the same drawing as the one exhibited at Anthony Hordern & Sons in 1927 but further research is required to confirm this. Mins 11/3164, 26th Jun 1931, Folio 1196.

51 Mins 11/3163, 24th Feb 1928, Folio 963.

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52 It is possible that the Trustees did not believe that the portrait was finished. This is reinforced by the article about the purchase of Italian Major where it is stated This is the first Orpen to be acquired by the trustees, who took the opportunity to secure a representative work by this distinguished artist. ‘An Orpen Portrait’, SMH, 3 Mar 1928, p. 18. Mins 11/3163, 2nd Mar 1928, Folio 966.

53 Mins 11/3164, 27th Nov 1931, Folio 1225 and 11/3164, 25th Nov 1932, Folio 1279.

54 Mins 11/3162, 25th Jan 1918, Folio 122.

55 These included three commissions to paint Generals who were either Australian or commanded Australian forces. Birdwood was painted by James Quinn for £430, Bridges by Florence Rodway for £100 and Monash by John Longstaff for £420. As Bridges died in 1915, Rodway had to paint him from photographs. There are many references to these works in the Trustees’ minutes but the following contain the decision to commission each artist. Mins 11/3162, 24th May 1918, Folio 233 (Quinn), 11/3162, 23rd Aug 1918, Folio 233 (Longstaff) and 11/3162, 25th Jul 1919, Folio 233 (Rodway).

56 The artists were paid in francs. Both portraits were deaccessioned and sold in 1996. Again, there are many references to the portraits in the minutes but the following contains the final decision to commission them. Mins 11/3162, 19th Dec 1919, Folios 271, 272.

57 Mins 11/3162, 22nd Aug 1919, Folio 239, Mins 11/3162, 5th Sep 1919, Folio 242 and 11/3162, 26th Sep 1919, Folio 246.

58 Mins 11/3162, 25th Jan 1918, Folio 122. Mins 11/3162, 25th Jan 1918, Folio 122.

59 The works from the AGNSW also included prints, mosaics, reproductions and a work by a Marion Griffin called Pandora’s Box (the auctioneer listed this as Pandora’s Book). Is this Marion Mahoney Griffin? The auction had a total of 331 lots and those from the AGNSW were not identified. Report, John Sulman, Obsolete Pictures, 22 Oct 1922, Catalogue of valuable pictures in oils and water-colours, by eminent English, Continental, and Australian artists: fine etchings, engravings, and rare colour prints to be sold by auction on Tuesday, 26th October, 1920.

60 The Exhibition was organised by artist Penleigh Boyd. Longstaff was in Sydney and he was at the meeting with the Trustees. The Trustees also bought an etching by Muirhead Bone from the Exhibition. ‘European Art’, SMH, 10th Jul 1923, p. 6. Mins 11/3163, 9th Jul 1923, Folio 566.

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61 Mins 11/3163, 28th Aug 1923, Folio 575.

62 Daniel Urrabieta Vierge was born in Spain in 1851 but moved to France at the age of 18. Benezit, Dictionary of Artists, Volume 14: Valverde to Zyw, p. 294.

63 In 2012, this work was put on exhibition in the AGNSW after many years in storage. Mins 11/3163, 27th Mar 1925, Folio 693.

64 The article also reported the receipt of The Lemnians. ‘New Picture for National Art Gallery’, SMH, 12th Mar 1926, p. 10.

65 Mins 11/3163, 28th May 1926, Folios 801, 802.

66 Mins 11/3163, 28th May 1926, Folios 802.

67 Three by Hungarian artists and two by Italians. Mins 11/3163, 23rd Jul 1926, Folios 821.

68 Mins 11/3163, 28th Sep 1928, Folio 1011 and 11/3163, 26th Oct 1928, Folio 1018.

69 His extended leave would now end on 15th Apr 1929. Mins 11/3163, 23rd Nov 1928, Folio 1024.

70 One of the oils, Plucking geese, by Frank Heath, is in the AGNSW Collection and is shown as a gift from Howard Hinton 1929 although there are no further references to it in the minutes. Mins 11/3163, 18th Jan 1929, Folio 1033.

71 After 1932, when he donated a self-portrait by Nora Heysen, he rarely gave the AGNSW any works. Mins 11/3164, 28th Nov 1932, Folio 1275. E S Elphick, ‘Hinton, Howard’ (1867-1948), ADB.

72 The exhibition ran from 29th April to 10th May 1930. Arthur Streeton reviewed the exhibition in The Argus. Mins 11/3164, 23rd May 1930, Folio 1137. Arthur Streeton, ‘Art Exhibitions – French Paintings,’ The Argus, 29 Apr 1930, p. 9.

73 The Blaxland Gallery was the commercial gallery of department store, Farmer & Co

74 John’s Canadian Soldier had been purchased for the Gallery in London in 1930 by Sir William Orpen and John Arnesby Brown. Australian artist John D Moore later wrote to the Trustees congratulating them on this purchase. Canadian Soldier was shown in this exhibition. Mins 11/3164, 24th Apr 1930, Folio 1129 and 11/3164, 26th Sep 1930, Folio 1156.

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75 He states that John’s The Marchesa Casati in the exhibition is one of John’s most important paintings. ‘British Art – A splendid exhibition’, SMH, 19th Apr 1933, p. 10.

76 Smith was an artist and writer who became a Trustee in 1927. There are 47 watercolours, drawings and prints by Smith in the AGNSW collection. McGregor was a wool broker and became a Trustee in 1929. He gave several works to the AGNSW during his lifetime. Nancy D. H. Underhill, ‘Smith, Sydney George Ure (1887–1949)’, ADB,

. Viewed 14th Dec 2012. R. M. Gibbs, ‘McGregor, Sir James Robert (1889–1973)’, ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

77 Mins 11/3164, 24th Mar 1932, Folio 1304.

78 See his Addled Art passim.

79 This is eight days before the official opening of the British Art Exhibition at Blaxland Galleries. Did they see the works before the opening or when it was on show in Melbourne? They would have known of the work exhibited as the organiser Mrs Alleyne Zander, had sent a catalogue to the AGNSW in February 1933. Mins 11/3164, 24th Feb 1933, Folio 1301. ‘Leaving by Orama’, SMH, 11 Apr 1933, p. 18.

80 Bertrand James Waterhouse was a Sydney architect who was also an artist. He became a Trustee in 1922, Vice-President in 1938 and President in 1939. He resigned as a Trustee in 1958. There are 21 pencil drawings by him in the AGNSW. Michael Waterhouse, 'Waterhouse, Bertrand James (1876–1965)', ADB, . Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

81 Sir Philip Street, Chief Justice and Lieutenant-Governor, was appointed a Trustee in 1923, Vice-President from 1933 to 1934 and President from 1934 until his death in 1938. This letter has not been found but its contents can be surmised by subsequent events. J. M. Bennett, 'Street, Sir Philip Whistler (1863–1938)', ADB ,

. Viewed 14th Dec 2012.

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82 It is rare for the AGNSW minutes of this period to record the numbers voting on motions. No names are recorded but the two in favour are likely to be Waterhouse who moved the motion and William Lister-Lister, the artist, who seconded the motion. Mins 11/3164, 5th May 1933, Folio 1313.

83 He was to retire as Chief Justice on 22 July 1933. J. M. Bennett, 'Street, Sir Philip Whistler (1863–1938)', ADB,

8696/text15217>. Viewed 14th Dec 2012. Mins 11/3164, 23rd Jun 1933, Folios 1322, 1323.

84 The letters from Sydney Ure Smith have not been found in the AGNSW archives. Mins 11/3164, 23rd Jun 1933, Folios 1322, 1351.

85 Purchases and presentations made between 1876 – 1935, pp. 169, 170, 184, 223.

86 Mins 11/3158, 24th Apr 1894, Folio 111.

87 This information and that below comes from the Society of Artists Annual Exhibition Catalogue 1935. The copy examined has a number of annotations by an unknown author who is critical of the modern French artists.

88 The works and artists were:

142. L’Estrade Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)

143. Mur Rose Andre Derain (1880-1954)

144. La Chaumiere Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)

145. Portrait of Prince Bassiano Andre Derain

146. Landscape Claude Monet (1840-1926)

147. Nature Morte au Grandin Charles Dufresne (1876-1938)

148. Eglise St Bernard Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955)

149. Barques à Etretat Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

150. Pot de Fleurs Andre Bauchant (1873-1958)

151. Portrait of Madame Dufresne Charles Dufresne

152 La Plage Jean Lurcat (1892-1966)

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89 This is anonymous but the writer states that the notes on Bauchant, Derain, Dupresne, Dufy and Utrillo are from Modern French Painters by Maurice Raynal, Duckworth, London and the notes on Lurcat and Matisse are from The Decade of Illusion, Paris, 1918.1928 by Maurice Sachs. This implies that the writer was familiar with the work and lives of Monet and Pissarro. It is possible that the notes were written Sydney Ure Smith who was both a Trustee and the President of the Society of Artists in 1935.

90 Hinton donated this work, Pierre Gerber’s Peasant Girl to the AGNSW in 1938. AGNSW collection website. . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

91 The Trustees held a special meeting at the exhibition two days before it opened to the public. Mins 11/3164, 4th Sep 1935, Folio 1484.

92 They had others which were gifts or bequests. The Tate and National Gallery collections of works from this period are currently intermingled. The National Gallery has lent a Monet Water-lilies to the Tate and the Tate has lent three paintings to the National Gallery. Tate: Art and Artists website . Viewed 5th Dec 2012 and subsequently. The National Gallery: Paintings website . Viewed 5th Dec 2012 and subsequently.

93 Catalogue of the National Gallery of Victoria, pp. 103, 104, 113.

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Chapter 7 - Conclusions The research question examined in this thesis is: To what extent from 1874 to 1935 was the AGNSW British and Foreign oil painting collection a result of a collection policy or the tastes and choices of its Trustees, staff and advisors?

The first document which could be considered as a formal collections policy at the AGNSW is a one page report entitled Buying Policy. This was produced by the then Director, Hal Missingham, on 22nd July 1960.1 At the top of this document, he states In my opinion the buying of works for the collection has been too haphazard. This is an appropriate description of the acquisitions by earlier Trustees and Directors. Missingham’s proposed policy is very short. It states that future buying policy should concentrate on two main directions: acquiring works by the more significant Australian painters and building up representation in those sections where the collection is weakest. The rest of the one page document is concerned with the procedures without any further details of the policy.

Chapter 1 discussed the perception of many Australian public galleries in the late nineteenth century in that they collected British paintings as they were trying to recreate home in the colonies and that was the major motivation behind their acquisitions. The collecting, however, by the AGNSW was more multidimensional.

In the years 1874 to 1935 there was no formal collections policy. In fact the earliest Trustees would not have recognised this expression. They did, however, have a defacto collections policy which continued to evolve over the years. The first policy was that the Gallery would acquire contemporary original watercolor (sic) drawings2 through a committee of selectors in London. This approach was proposed even before the first Trustees were appointed in a letter from the Council of the New South Wales Academy of Art to the Minister for Justice and Public Instruction3, and was chosen in preference to two other proposed acquisition policies. One, a proposal by J H Thomas to acquire Old Master copies was rejected after discussions at a meeting held on 23rd July 1874. The second was the purchase of oil paintings. This was rejected due to the available funds being insufficient. The original watercolor (sic) drawings were to be predominantly British as 80% of the embryonic Gallery’s funds were sent to London.

Chapter 7 - Conclusions Page 133

In October 1875, the Trustees decided to obtain a single oil painting by a living English artist. While this resulted in the acquisition of Ford Madox Brown’s Chaucer, it was also an extension of the Trustees’ defacto collections ‘policy’. It was still focused on British works.

Prior to 1879, the Gallery purchased only two Foreign oils and these were acquired locally, not in London.4 In 1879, there were significantly more Foreign than British oils exhibited at the Sydney International Exhibition.5 The availability of the Foreign works would have been a substantial factor in their acquisition. The ‘policy’ to include Foreign works was confirmed by the appointment of the Paris selectors in 1886.

Until 1889, few Australian works were purchased but this changed when Julian Ashton was appointed as a Trustee and the Minister instructed the Gallery to purchase works painted in New South Wales. The policy was extended again.

Occasionally the Trustees would inform the selectors what types of works they wished to acquire. In January 1891, they asked for ‘Distinctive’ pictures as good, or even better than anything now in the Gallery. In April 1894, they requested rising artists. Whether these vague descriptions helped the selectors is impossible to ascertain. Later the Trustees became more specific, even stating which artists were now part of their collections policy. In 1911, Mann wrote to London specifying which artists they wished to have in the Gallery’s collection including Charles Shannon, William Orpen, James Guthrie, La Thangue, Arnesby Brown and Charles Sims.6

In 1910, Du Faur and Mann submitted reports about which schools they wished to have represented in the collection. Mann stated in his report that the objective is to purchase modern work – for a Modern Art Collection. The reports then proposed that they acquire works from Scottish artists and a number of Foreign schools. This was the closest the Trustees came to a formal collections policy up to 1935.

Reasons for acquisitions

The Trustees did not even follow their informal collections policy. Their decisions were affected by a number of other factors, which varied from acquisition to acquisition. As Trustees they were obliged to justify the expenditure of public money, so it is not surprising that they also sought to justify their decisions.

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The most important form of justification was validation by the Royal Academy and the Salons of the works acquired.7 In the late nineteenth century the RA and the Salons were the centre of the art world despite the emergence of impressionism and other movements. The first works acquired were mainly by artists who had exhibited at these institutions. The AGNSW’s catalogues up to 1928 would prominently state that a work had been exhibited at the RA or Salon. The artist’s membership of other bodies was also mentioned in catalogues.8

This validation can be examined statistically. The AGNSW acquired 254 oils9 by British artists between 1874 and 1935 of which 86 can be identified as having been exhibited at the RA.10 This is 34% of works acquired. If works that were either given or bequeathed to the Gallery are excluded11, 77 out of the 197 works acquired were exhibited at the RA which is 39%. The documentation about the acquisition of many works is limited; therefore, the actual number of works in the AGNSW collection exhibited at the RA could be greater.12

The Trustees and others however, did not just rely on the fact that a painting acquired by the Gallery had been exhibited at the RA. They also used the fact that the artist had been elected to the Royal Academy or even exhibited at the RA. The 254 oils had been painted by 203 British artists. Of these artists, 89 (44%) became Associates and 76 (38%) were elected as Royal Academicians.

In addition, the number of artists whose work had been included in a Royal Academy Summer Exhibition was 187 (just under 93%), but if we exclude artists whose work was only given or bequeathed to the Gallery, the percentage is just over 93%. This enabled the Trustees to be on very safe ground when using the RA to validate their purchases. This aim to validate was still evident in the twentieth century. The entry in the 1919 catalogue for The Triumph of Spring13 by George Percy Jacomb-Hood mentions that he was a constant exhibitor at the RA from 1879 although he never became an ARA or RA. The entry also states that Jacomb-Hood was a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (RE) giving more validation for the purchase of this work.14

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The validation of being exhibited at the Salon was also used especially for Foreign works. 60 French oils were acquired from 1874 to 1935. If gifts and bequests are excluded, the number was 51 of which 22 (43%) were exhibited at the Salon. Again, this could be a low figure because of inadequate documentation at the AGNSW. The numbers and percentages based on artists could not be calculated (see the discussion about artists exhibiting at the RA above) as there is no complete set of Salon catalogues available publicly in Sydney.15

Exhibition at these institutions removed any need to provide any other evidence of artistic merit. As an example, Murray’s The Angler (See Chapter 5) was criticised when it arrived in Sydney, one of the reasons being that it had been repainted since it was exhibited at the RA.

Another form of validation was approval by those considered to be taste makers. One example was Gow’s Jacobite Proclamation. When Sir Henry Parkes suggested that the Gallery purchase this work he also stated that it was also recommended by the Prince of Wales and the British Prime Minister!

Other works were acquired partially because of the importance of the person offering it. This was probably the case with Sir Alexander Stuart, the Colonial Treasurer of NSW, selling a copy of a Murillo to the Gallery in 1876 despite the decision two years earlier not to acquire any Old Master copies. As a further example, in the 1891 catalogue entry for Streatley-on-Thames by Alfred Glendenning (Senior), it states Her Majesty was one of the first of the patrons who appreciated his skill.16

Validation could also be provided by the inclusion of works by an artist in other collections. The 1919 catalogue noted that George Percy Jacomb-Hood was also represented in the Art Gallery of South Australia.17

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Cost was an important consideration. While the funds available always make this a factor in any purchase, the Trustees in the nineteenth century would always proclaim the amount saved in any announcement of a purchase. In some cases, this appears to be as, or more important, than the artistic merit of the work. In 1879 Du Faur stated that while a painting by William Dobson at the Sydney International Exhibition was for sale for £525, the one acquired for the AGNSW was both a better painting and cost only £100. The London selectors also stressed how they achieved a bargain on a number of occasions.

Some acquisitions were affected by where it was available and who saw it. Seeing a real work is always better than seeing a reproduction.18 The Sydney International Exhibition provided an opportunity for the Trustees to buy locally which meant they could see the works themselves rather than rely on the choices of overseas selectors. The Trustees or Mann also travelled to other exhibitions in Australia and New Zealand. Sydney Ure Smith and James McGregor’s trip to Europe enabled them to acquire works which other Trustees may have rejected. The inclusion of the Pissarro in the Society of Artists exhibition in Sydney in 1935 may have made it easier to acquire.

The last factor is taste. This, of course, is subjective and each person’s taste is different - as are their prejudices. Both would have been a factor in most acquisitions.

A difficulty with examining the reasons behind an acquisition is that in most cases there is no documentation explicitly stating the reasons.

Conclusion

In the absence of a formal collections policy, it is difficult to judge whether the Trustees adhered to a defacto policy or not. Was a purchase a random purchase or was it the extension of an unwritten policy? The result was that a combination of factors affected the acquisition of British and Foreign oils not an evolving ‘policy’.

The factors varied from acquisition to acquisition but the most important were validation of the Royal Academy and the Salons, the price, the tastes and prejudices of those recommending or purchasing the work and the influence of Trustees and others. In these circumstances, Hal Missingham’s haphazard comment in 1960 is understandable.

Chapter 7 - Conclusions Page 137

To conclude: even as the defacto collections policy for the acquisition of British and Foreign oils evolved over several decades, it was consistently overridden by a number of factors, including taste, cost and external influences.

Further study

British and Foreign oils were only a small part of the Gallery’s collection. It collected sculpture, watercolours, drawings prints, ceramics, furniture, pewter and a wide range of other objects – even a carved rhinoceros horn.19 Australian works were an ever increasing part of the Gallery’s collection after 1889. The Trustees had limited funds so they had to decide which works to acquire. To see how the collection developed all types of works would need to be considered together to show the variety of acquisitions, including gifts and bequests, since 1874. The effect of deaccession has also to be considered, including transfers of large parts of the collection. This would result in a comprehensive examination of the AGNSW’s collection and the people, policies and events that shaped it.

Chapter 7 - Conclusions Page 138

Chapter 7 - Notes

1 Hal Missingham, Buying Policy, 1960.

2 Letter, Du Faur to Minister of Minister of Justice & Education (sic), 25th Jul 1874, NSWAA records, Folios 27, 28.

3 The majority of sources in this chapter have already been referred to in previous chapters therefore only new sources are in these notes.

4 In 1877 The morning after the Gale by Wilhelm Melby (Denmark) was purchased in Melbourne and The World and the Cloister by Antonio Zona (Italy) was purchased in Sydney. AGNSW catalogues in the 1880s describe Melby as British so it is possible that the Trustees thought he was British.

5 There were 182 French, 170 British, 73 Austrian, 71 German and 64 Belgian oils in the Art Gallery building. Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures, &c., in the Art Gallery of the International Exhibition, Sydney, 1879-80.

6 This did not stop the Trustees saying that did not approve of a work by Sims when it arrived in January 1913.

7 The influence of the RA and Salon declined at the AGNSW in the 1930s.

8 For British artists, they often stated if the artist was a member of other organisations e.g. Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) or Royal Scottish Academy (RSA). See Appendix D.

9 This number is different to the figure in Chapter One as it includes works which were later exchanged for others (e.g. David Murray’s The Angler and Alfred East’s A Sunlit Haven) but excludes unknown artists or those artists who cannot be positively identified.

10 This is a conservative figure as only works with the same name as the works exhibited at the RA are included, or if there is reliable AGNSW documentation confirming that the work was exhibited at the RA.

11 Therefore counting only works purchased, commissioned, transferred or exchanged. Almost all works transferred to the Gallery in the period covered were works purchased by Sir Henry Parkes when he was Colonial Secretary.

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12 The provenance of Tom Mostyn’s I wonder on the AGNSW website is shown as Source unknown. Purchased in London 1915. AGNSW collection website, . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

13 The Triumph of Spring was purchased from the Anglo Australian Society of Artists exhibition in Sydney in 1889. It is still in the collection.

14 AGNSW catalogue 1919, p. 34.

15 This could be an opportunity for future research.

16 AGNSW catalogue 1891, p. 25.

17 AGNSW catalogue 1919, p. 34.

18 Particularly given the technology available to make reproductions during the period examined.

19 It was presented to the Gallery in 1897. It is no longer in the collection.

Chapter 7 - Conclusions Page 140

Chapter 8 - Bibliography

Part 1- AGNSW acquisition documentation

AGNSW collection, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2009, . Viewed 7th Mar 2011 and subsequently. The Gallery’s online catalogue has information about the acquisition of many of the works in the collection.

Catalogue cards, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, n.d.

Purchases and presentations made between 1876 - 1935, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1893 – 1935.

Purchases and presentations made from 28.8.1935 – 16.12.1949, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1935 – 1949.

Part 2 – Meeting minutes and correspondence

New South Wales Academy of Art, Records of the New South Wales Academy of Art 1874 to 1880, New South Wales Academy of Art, Sydney, 1874 to 1880.

This includes Trustees’ minutes for the period 1874 to 1880 plus minutes of the Council of the NSW Academy of Art for the same period. See Chapter 1.

Art Gallery of NSW, Minutes of the monthly meetings of the Board of Trustees, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1880 - 1935.

Correspondence, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 1874 to 1935. References to individual letters are shown in the notes. See note in Chapter 1 about how the Correspondence and Letter Books are organised.

Letter Books, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1877 to 1923. References to individual letters are shown in the notes.

Part 3 – AGNSW catalogues and illustrated books

Catalogue of the Art Gallery of New South Wales with 94 illustrations drawn by E L Montefiore, Esq., John Sands, Sydney, 1883.

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Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales with illustrations drawn by E L Montefiore, Esq., Second edition, John Sands, Sydney, 1884.

Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales with Illustrations drawn by E L Montefiore, Esq., Third edition, John Sands, Sydney, 1886.

Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales with Illustrations drawn by E L Montefiore, Esq. and others., Fourth Edition, John Sands, Sydney, 1888.

Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (with illustrations) drawn by E L Montefiore, (President of Trustees), and others, Fifth edition, John Sands, Sydney, 1891.

Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (with illustrations) drawn by E L Montefiore, Director, and others, Sixth edition, John Sands, Sydney, 1893.

Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales Published by the Trustees., Seventh Edition, John Sands, Sydney, 1899.

Free, Renée, Art Gallery of New South Wales Catalogue of British Paintings, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, [1987].

Illustrated Catalogue, Government Printer, Sydney, 1906, reprinted 1912.

National Art Gallery of New South Wales Illustrated Catalogue, Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1926, reprinted 1927.

National Art Gallery of New South Wales Illustrated Catalogue, Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1928.

Portrait of a Gallery, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1984.

Smith, Bernard, A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875-1952, National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 1953.

Part 4 – AGNSW publications and reports

About us: History of the Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, n.d., Viewed 31st Mar 2011.

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About us: History of the building, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, n.d., Viewed 31st Mar 2011.

About us: History of the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, n.d. Viewed 31st Mar 2011.

Art Gallery of New South Wales Act 1980, New South Wales Parliament, Sydney, 1980.

Bond, Tony, Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection Policy, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, n. d.

Menzies, Jackie (Ed), The Asian Collections - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2003.

Missingham, Hal, Buying Policy, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1960.

Missingham, Hal, Lecture given 18/5/1971 to Art Gallery Society, Sydney AGNSW, Sydney 1971, typescript manuscript pp. 32

Missingham, Hal, Purchases and Acquisitions 1958, Lecture by Director, AGNSW, Sydney n.d. (1959?), typescript manuscript

Missingham, Hal, Report on Cataloguing, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1959.

Missingham, Hal, The History of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Lecture given 28 Apr 1970 to Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney AGNSW, Sydney, n.d. (1970) typescript manuscript with list of slides

Pearce, Barry (Ed), Swiss Artists in Australia 1777 - 1991, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1991.

Prizes, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, n.d., . Viewed 5th Sep 2012.

Reports of the Trustees of The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1880 to 1935.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 143

Part 5 - Newspapers

The majority of newspaper material used came from the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). This is for three reasons. The first is that the SMH was published continuously during the period covered by this thesis. The second is that it covered the AGNSW and the New South Wales Academy of Art comprehensively from 1871 onwards. The fact that Sir James Fairfax, the proprietor, was a founding member of the Academy of Art and an AGNSW Trustee from 1874 to 1919 may help explain the SMH’s interest.

The last is that that the complete Sydney Morning Herald from 1871 to 1935 is available on Trove. Trove is an online database which includes, inter alia, digitised Australian newspapers. It does not yet include all Australian newspapers although that is the objective of the National Library which hosts the Trove system. Other newspapers were accessed via Trove, microfiche, newspaper cuttings (in the AGNSW archive) and physical copies.

In late nineteenth and early twentieth century Australia, very few newspapers articles listed the name of the author. They also grouped a number of news items under one heading such as the date, the name of the newspaper or a generic heading such as Fine Arts or News of the Day. Some articles do not have any title.

Also in the nineteenth and early twentieth century newspapers would publish letters anonymously or under a nom-de-plume. Some such writers, such as E L M are identifiable (Eliezer Levi Montefiore) while others such as X Y Z are not.

Sydney Morning Herald – 1871 to 1935. Individual articles, advertisements, family notices and letters are identified in the relevant note which includes the author (if present), name of the item (if present), date of publication and the page number(s). To access use . Viewed 30th Mar 2011 and subsequently.

‘A Race to Market, Tahiti’, Australian Town and Country Journal, 24th Dec 1881, Sydney. . Viewed 4th Jun 2011. ‘Thursday, February 10, 1870.’, The Argus, 10 Feb 1870, Melbourne, Viewed 26th Aug 2011.

‘A Race to Market’, Illustrated Sydney News, 29th Oct 1881, Sydney. . Viewed 4th Jun 2011.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 144

Streeton, Arthur, ‘Art Exhibitions – French Paintings,’ The Argus, Melbourne, 29 Apr 1930. , Viewed 27th Aug 2012.

‘Tuesday, January 18, 1870’, The Argus, 18 Jan 1870, Melbourne. Viewed 26th Aug 2011.

Part 6 – Dictionaries and encyclopaedias

Alumni Sidneienses: Alumni of the University of Sydney, University of Sydney, n.d. . Viewed 17th Jan 2013.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 2011. . th . Viewed 5 Jun 2011 and subsequently.

References to individual entries are in the notes where Australian Dictionary of Biography is abbreviated to ADB.

Benezit, Dictionary of Artists (14 volumes), Éditions Gründ, Paris, 2006.

Design and Art of Australia Online, Design and Art Australia Online, Sydney, 2011, . Viewed 28th Feb 2011 and subsequently. Until mid 2011, this was entitled Dictionary of Australian Artists Online.

Graves, Algernon, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Compete Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904, 8 volumes, Henry Graves and Co Ltd & George Bell and Sons, London, 1905-1906.

McCulloch, Alan, McCulloch, Susan and McCulloch Childs, Emily, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions, Fitzroy, Victoria, 2006.

Richard Muther’, Dictionary of Art Historians, website, n.d., th , Viewed 20 Mar 2013.

Oxford Dictionaries Online, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013. Viewed 11th Mar 2013.

Royal Academy of, Arts. Royal Academy Exhibitors, 1905-1970: A Dictionary of Artists and Their Work in the Summer Exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts, Hilmartin Manor Press, Calne, Wiltshire, 1985-1987.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 145

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 2 volumes, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1973.

Your paintings: uncovering the nation’s art collection, BBC, London, n.d., . Viewed 8th Oct 2012 and subsequently.

Part 7 – Other catalogues

Catalogue of the Library and Furniture of the Hon. Sir Henry Parkes, G.C.M.G. Removed from His Residence, ‘Kenilworth’, James Lawson & Sons, Sydney, 1896.

Catalogue of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1943.

Catalogue of valuable pictures in oils and water-colours, by eminent English, Continental, and Australian artists: fine etchings, engravings, and rare colour prints to be sold by auction on Tuesday, 26th October 1920, W. A. Little, Sydney, 1920.

Currie, Gillian, Paris salons: a listing of catalogues held in the National Gallery of Australia Research Library, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1999.

Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures, &c., in the Art Gallery of the International Exhibition, Sydney, 1879-80, P E Reynolds, Fine Art Dealer, Sydney, 1879.

Greenwood, Arthur E & Stephen, Harold W H, Catalogue of the Art Gallery with Art Notes, Sydney. : J. L. Holmes, Sydney 1883.

James R Lawson Pty Ltd , Catalogue of The Valuable Pictures to be sold by public auction on Tuesday 26th November 1946 at 11 o’clock a.m., James R Lawson Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1946.

Newall, Christopher. The Etruscans : Painters of the Italian Landscape, 1850-1900, Stoke on Trent City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent, 1989,

‘Sotheby’s, Auction Catalogue: - Australian Paintings, Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Books, European and American Works of Art – Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th August 1996, Sotheby’s Australia, Paddington, NSW, 1996.

Tate: Art and Artists, Tate Gallery, London, n.d., . Viewed 5th Dec 2012 and subsequently.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 146

The National Gallery: Paintings, National Gallery, London, n.d., . Viewed 5th Dec 2012 and subsequently.

Part 8 - Other publications and documents

Alfonso, Cecilia, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Changing Shape, Changing Functions, 1871 - 1987, BA thesis, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 1988.

Annual Reports of the New South Wales Academy of Art, New South Wales Academy of Art, Sydney, 1872 to 1880.

Art Gallery of New South Wales Special Number, Art and Australia, Sydney, Volume 10, Number 1, July 1972.

Ashton, Julian, Now Came Still Evening On, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1941.

Casteras, Susan P, John Ruskin and the Victorian Eye, New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with Phoenix Art Museum, 1993.

Chanin, Eileen, Cultural philanthropy, David Scott Mitchell and the Mitchell Library, PhD thesis, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2012.

City of Sydney: Historic buildings, Council of the City of Sydney, Sydney, n.d.,

, Viewed 22nd Aug 2011.

Cox, Leonard B, The National Gallery of Victoria 1861 to 1968 A Search for a Collection, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1970.

Curnow, Heather, ‘Nicolas Chevalier (1826 – 1902)’, Art and Australia, Volume 18, Number 3, Autumn 1981, Fine Arts Press Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1981.

David Barrie, National Portrait Gallery, London, n.d., . Viewed 10th Feb 2012.

Edwards, Deborah, Presence & Absence: Portrait Sculpture in Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2003.

Fuller, Peter, Theoria: Art and the Absence of Grace, Chatto & Windus, London, 1988.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 147

Galbally, Ann, and National Gallery of Victoria, The Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1987.

Galbally, Ann (Ed), The First Collections: The Public Library and the National Gallery of Victoria in the 1850s and the 1860s, University of Melbourne Museum of Art, Parkville, 1992.

Gooding, Janda, Western Australian Art and Artists 1900-1950, Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, 1986.

Gott, Ted, Benson, Laurie, Matthiesson, Sophie, Galbally, Ann, Inglis, Alison and National Gallery of Victoria. Modern Britain 1900-1960: Masterworks from Australian and New Zealand Collections, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2007.

Green, Pauline, ‘Three Short Histories’, Building the collection, Green, Pauline (Ed.), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2003.

Greenwood, Thomas, Museums and Art Galleries, Simpkin, Marshall and Co, London, 1888.

Griffin, Des and Paroissien, Leon (Eds), Understanding Museums: Australian Museum and Museology, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 2011 th . Viewed 11 May 2012.

Hogan, Janet, Souvenir: Queensland Art Gallery collection, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 1996.

Horton, Mervyn and Thomas, David (Eds), Art Gallery of South Australia 1881 – 1981 , Art Gallery Board of Australia, Adelaide, 1981.

Hutchison, Noel S, The Establishment of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Politics and Taste, BA thesis, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 1968.

Hutchison, Sidney C. The History of the Royal Academy 1768-1968, Chapman & Hall, London, 1968.

Inglis, Alison, ‘The Allure of Albion: collecting British art in Adelaide’, Art Monthly Australia, Sydney, Issue 181, 2005.

Jackson, Kevin, The worlds of John Ruskin, Pallas Athene & The Ruskin Foundation, London, 2010.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 148

Jackson, Robert, The population history of Australia, McPhee Gribble/Penguin Books, Fitzroy, Victoria/Ringwood, Victoria 1988.

Johnston, Heather, The Sydney art patronage system, 1840 – 1940, Bungoona Technologies, Grays Point, NSW, 1997.

Jones, Clement, Sea trading and sea training: being a short history of the firm of Devitt and Moore, E Arnold, London, 1936.

Kelly, Max (Ed.), Nineteenth –Century Sydney: Essays in Urban History, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1978.

Kolenberg, Hendrik, The First fifteen years Acquisitions to 1911, Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, 1979

Lahmeyer, Jan, Population statistics; Australia; historical demographical data of the nd urban centers, 1999- 2004, , Viewed 22 Aug

2011.

Lindsay, Lionel, Addled Art, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1942.

Lynn, Elwyn and Murray, Laura, (Eds) Considering art in Tasmania, Fine Arts Press, Sydney 1985.

MacGregor, Arthur. Curiosity and Enlightenment: Collectors and Collections from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century. New Haven, Conn; London: Yale University Press, 2007.

Manchester Art Gallery: History of the Collection, n.d., . Viewed 2 Feb 2012.

Montana, Andrew. The Art Movement in Australia: Design, Taste and Society 1875- 1900, Miegunyah Press, Carlton South, 2000.

Murray, Phip, The NGV story: a celebration of 150 years, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2011.

Muther, Richard, The History of Modern Painting, 3 volumes, Macmillan and Co, New York, 1896.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 149

National Gallery Act 1975, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 1975.

National Gallery of Canada – History, n.d., . Viewed 2nd Feb 2012.

Parliamentary Record, Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, 1824 – 2007, Volume VIII, First Edition, New South Wales Parliament, Sydney, 2007.

Phillipe Burty (1830-1890), n.d., . Viewed 4 Dec 2012.

Past and Present - The Dunedin Public Art Gallery, n.d., , Viewed 2 Feb 2012.

Penny, Nicholas, ‘Seeing through Fuller’, London Review of Books, Volume 11, No 7, 30th March 1989, London, 1989.

Portrait of a Gallery, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1984.

Poynter, J R, Mr Felton’s Bequests, Second Numbered Series of the Miegunyah Volumes, No. 48, New ed, Miegunyah Press, Carlton, 2008.

Radford, Ron, Island to Empire: 300 Years of British Art; 1550 - 1850, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2005.

Records and Archive branch of the City of Melbourne, The History of the City of Melbourne, City of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1997.

Reed, Stewart, ‘A faithful reproduction’, SL Magazine, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Autumn 2013, 2013.

Royal Academy of Arts, The pictures of 1895, Art Journal, London, 1895.

Royal Academy & New Gallery Pictures and Sculpture for 1909, Black & White Publishing Co., London, 1909.

Ruskin, John, Lectures on Architecture and Painting delivered at Edinburgh in November 1853, Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1854.

Ruskin, John. St. Mark's Rest; the History of Venice Written for the Help of the Few Travellers Who Still Care for Her Monuments. New York, John W. Lovell Company, 1885.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 150

Ruskin, John, The Seven Lamps of Architecture. 2nd ed. Allen, Orpington, Kent: 1880.

Ruskin, John, and David Barrie. Modern Painters. Abridged ed. ed. London: Andre Deutsch, 1987.

Ruskin, John, and Kenneth Clark. Ruskin Today. Chosen and Annotated by Kenneth Clark. John Murray, London, 1964.

Ruskin, John, and Tinker, Chauncey Brewster, Selections from the Works of John Ruskin, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, & New York 1908.

Sanchez, Pierre, Dictionnaire des ceramistes, peintres sur porcelaine, verre et email, verriers et emailleurs, exposant dans les salons, expositions universelles, industrielles, d'art decoratif, et des manufactures nationales, 1700-1920, L'echelle de Jacob, Dijon 2005.

Sanchez, Pierre, Dictionnaire des artistes exposant dans les salons des XVII et XVIIIeme siecles à Paris et en province, 1673- 1800, Echelle de Jacob, Dijon 2004.

Sir James Guthrie (1859-1930) Painter, National Portrait Gallery, London, n.d., . Viewed 2 Nov 2012

Smith, Bernard, A pavane for another time, Macmillan Art Publishing, South Yarra, Victoria, 2002.

Smith, Terry, ‘The Provincialism Problem’, Artforum, Volume XIII, Number 1, September 1974, Artforum International Magazine, New York, 1974.

Snowden, Betty, Policies, personalities and politics: Modern French Art and the National Gallery of Victoria 1860 – 1940, PhD thesis, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004.

Society of Artists Annual Exhibition Catalogue 1935, Society of Artists, Sydney, 1935.

Strahan, Ronald, Rare and curious specimens: an illustrated history of the Australian Museum, 1827-1979, Australian Museum, Sydney, 1979.

Sydney International Exhibition 1879, Official Catalogue of the Art Gallery: New South Wales, Great Britain, Austria, France, Germany, Belgium, Thomas Richards, Government Printer, Sydney, 1880.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 151

Temple, Arthur George, Guildhall Memories, John Murray, London, 1918.

The architecture of the Museum, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, n.d., . Viewed 2nd Feb 2012.

The evolution of the Australian passport, Australian Passport Office, n.d., . Viewed 11th Dec 2012.

Trumble, Angus (Ed), Love & Death: Art in the Age of Queen Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2001.

Chapter 8 - Bibliography Page 152 Appendix A - New South Wales Academy of Art – Meeting attendees

The following gentlemen were present at the initial meeting on 24th April 1871, the interim committee elected at that meeting, the first general meeting held on 15th May 1871 and the Academy’s first council.

Name Occupation Honours Birth Death A 1st mtg Interim Second First D 24/4/71 comm- mtg coun B ittee 15/5/71 cil 3 Mr Anderson1 * 9 Charles Badham University professor 1813 1884 9 9 9 Francis Bell, C.E City Engineer, City of Sydney 1879 8 9 J. Brush2 9 James R Fairfax1 Newspaper proprietor/patron of the arts 1 Knighted 1834 1919 9 9 1898 Thomas. Hodgson2 9 9 9 Thomas Fisher (?) Businessman and benefactor 1820 1884 9 Alexander Christian Habbe Artist/designer/cartoonist 1829 1896 9 Samuel Aaron Joseph Businessman/ politician 1824 1898 9 Mr District Judge Josephson Judge, politician 1815 1892 9 9 9 William McLeod (?)1 Illustrator/cartoonist/artist 1850 1929 * 9 Samuel Lyons2 JP 9 9 9 Eliezer Levi Montefiore Business man and amateur artist 1820 1894 9 9 9 9 9 Charles Moore Director of the Botanic Gardens 1820 1905 9 Thomas Sutcliffe Mort Businessman 1816 1878 9 9 9 9 9 Sir Terence Aubrey Murray President of the Legislative Council Knight. 1810 1873 9 9 9 Dr F J. S Paterson2 9 9 William George Pennington (?) Solicitor / Journalist / Member of 9 9 Parliament

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Name Occupation Honours Birth Death A 1st mtg Interim Second First D 24/4/71 comm- mtg coun B ittee 15/5/71 cil 3 Charles Edward Pilcher Barrister and Member of Parliament 1844 1916 9 9 9 W. T Pinhey2 9 Edward Reeve Writer and museum curator 1822 1889 9 9 9 9 9 Rev W Ridley Minister of religion/journalist/linguist 1819 1878 9 Lewis Steffanoni Artist/administrator 1835 1880 9 9 9 9 9 Mr Stephen2 9 George Milner Stephen Barrister, politician, faith healer 1812 1894 9 9 James Henry Thomas Railway Engineer 8 9 Robert Tooth Brewer 1821 1893 9 9 J. Stopps2 9 William Wallace2, 4 9 William Wallis2, 4 9 James. A. C. Willis2 9 9 9 9 J W. Wilson2 9

Notes 1. Anderson, Fairfax and McLeod are not listed as attendees in the Sydney Morning Herald’s report (25th April 1871) of the first meeting on but they were appointed to the committee set up at that meeting. The Sydney Morning Herald ends its list of attendees with the words and several others. 2. These attendees’ occupations have not been identified. The Sydney Morning Herald’s report (16th May 1871) of the second meeting states that a Mr Stephen moved a motion. This Stephen cannot be identified. It could not be Sir Alfred Stephen as he was knighted and he would have been referred to in this way. This is unlikely to be his brother, George Milner Stephen, as he is listed in the Sydney Morning Herald’s report as Mr G. Milner Stephen just below the reference to Mr Stephen. 3. Australian Dictionary of Biography entry 4. Possibly the same person with different spellings of his name?

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Appendix B – Art Gallery of New South Wales Trustees - 1874 to 1935

Name Given Birth Death Occupation Appointed Retired President Vice President Memberships, honours, etc. Combes Edward 1830 1895 Engineer 1874 1876 Sir Du Faur Frederick Eccleston 1832 1915 Land agent 1874 1915 1892-1915 Fairfax James Reading 1834 1919 Newspaper publisher 1874 1919 1915-1919 1889-1915 Sir Montefiore Eliezer Levi 1820 1894 Businessman 1874 1892 1889-1892 Stephen Alfred 1802 1894 Chief Justice of NSW 1874 1889 1874-1889 Sir, MLC Thomas James Henry Engineer 1876 1876 Dangar Henry Cary 1830 1917 Businessman 1877 1887 MLC Combes Edward 1830 1895 Engineer 1881 1895 Jennings Patrick Alfred 1831 1897 Pastoralist 1885 1897 Sir, MLC. Mullens Josiah 1826 1915 Stockbroker 1885 1915 1899-1914 Trickett William Joseph 1843 1916 Solicitor/Politician 1886 1899 1915-1916 MLC Ashton Julian Rossi 1851 1942 Artist 1889 1899 Wise Bernhard Ringrose 1858 1916 Barrister/Politician 1889 1908 MLA Innes Joseph George 1834 1896 Judge 1892 1896 Sir Long Suttor Francis Bathurst 1839 1915 Grazier/Politician 1899 1915 1914-1915 MLC Abbott Joseph Palmer 1842 1901 Solicitor/Politician 1899 1901 Sir, MLA Gorman Henry 1849 1923 Real Estate Agent 1899 1923 1916-1923 Salomons Julian Emanuel 1835 1909 Judge 1899 1909 Sir Carruthers Joseph Hector 1856 1932 Solicitor/Politician 1899 1932 Sir, MLA, MLC Sulman John 1849 1934 Architect 1899 1934 1919-1934 1915-1919 Sir Beauchamp William, 7th Earl 1872 1938 Governor of NSW 1900 1901 Collingridge Arthur 1853 1907 Artist 1900 1907 Lister William Lister 1859 1943 Artist 1900 1943 1919-1943 Manning Frederick Norton 1839 1903 Medical Practitioner 1901 1903 Welch John St Vincent 1844 1918 Insurance Manager 1901 1918 Marshall Thomas 1935 Solicitor 1903 1935 Knox Edward William 1847 1933 Businessman 1907 1933 1923-1933 Sir, Wade Charles Gregory 1863 1922 Judge/Politician 1908 1918 Sir Trickett William Joseph 1843 1916 Solicitor/Politician 1909 1916 1909-1916 MLA, MLC, Archibald See note 2 1856 1919 Newspaper publisher 1915 1919 Page 155

Name Given Birth Death Occupation Appointed Retired President Vice President Memberships, honours, etc. Fitzgerald John Daniel 1862 1922 Barrister/Politician 1915 1922 MLA, MLC Morton Phillip Henry 1862 1932 Estate Manager/Politician 1915 1932 MLA Mullins John Lane 1857 1939 Solicitor/Politician 1916 1939 1938-1939 1934-1938 MLC Lindsay Lionel 1874 1961 Artist 1918 1929 Sir Hinton Howard 1867 1948 Company director/Patron 1919 1948 of the arts Fox R A Medical Practitioner 1920 1927 Ifould William Herbert 1877 1969 Librarian 1921 1960 1958-1960 1939-1958 Waterhouse Bertrand James 1876 1965 Architect 1922 1958 1939-1958 1938-1939 Street Philip Whistler 1863 1938 Chief Justice of NSW 1923 1938 1934-1938 1933-1934 Sir Smith Sydney Ure 1887 1949 Artist and writer 1927 1947 1943-1947 McGregor James Robert 1889 1973 Wool broker 1929 1958 Sir Watkins John Samuel 1866 1942 Artist 1932 1942 Long Sydney 1878 1955 Artist 1933 1949 Associate RE Maund John W 1876 1962 Solicitor / Connoisseur 1933 1956 Lindsay Lionel 1874 1961 Second term 1934 1949 Sir Jones Charles Lloyd 1878 1958 Businessman/Patron of 1934 1958 1948-1958 Sir the arts

Notes 1. Excludes ex-officio Trustees (e.g. Minister for Public Instruction) 2. Archibald was born John Feltham but changed his names to Jules François.

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Appendix C – NSW government - 1870 to 1935

This list shows the Governors, Premiers, London Agents-General, Ministers for Education (including their predecessors) and others for the period 1871 to 1935. 1871 was the year when the New South Wales Academy of Art was founded and 1935 is the end date of the thesis. If one of the Members of Parliament below was in office for more than one term (in the same or a different portfolio) birth and death dates are only shown for the first term.

Governors of New South Wales Name Start End Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, Earl of Belmore 8 Jan 1868 21 Feb 1872 Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson 3 Jun 1872 19 Mar 1879 Sir Augustus William Frederick Spencer Loftus 4 Aug 1879 9 Nov 1885 Charles Robert Carrington, Baron Carrington 12 Dec 1885 3 Nov 1890 Victor Albert George Child-Villiers, Earl of Jersey 15 Jan 1891 2 Mar 1893 Sir Robert William Duff 29 May 1893 15 Mar 1895 Henry Robert Brand, Viscount Hampden 21 Nov 1895 5 Mar 1899 William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp 18 May 1899 30 Apr 1901 Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson 27 May 1902 27 May 1909 Frederic John Napier Thesiger, Baron Chelmsford 28 May 1909 11 Mar 1913 Sir Gerald Strickland, Count della Catena 14 Mar 1913 27 Oct 1917 Sir Walter Edward Davidson 18 Feb 1918 16 Sep 1923 Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair 28 Feb 1924 8 Apr 1930 Sir Philip Woolcott Game 29 May 1930 15 Jan 1935 Sir Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven 21 Feb 1935 22 Jan 1936

Deputy Governors, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators appointed during the absence of the Governor are not included.

Premiers of New South Wales* Name Birth Death Start End Sir James Martin 14 May 1820 04 Nov 1886 16 Dec 1870 13 May 1872 Sir Henry Parkes 27 May 1815 27 Apr 1896 14 May 1872 08 Feb 1875 Sir John Robertson 15 Oct 1816 08 May 1891 09 Feb 1875 21 Mar 1877 Sir Henry Parkes 22 Mar 1877 16 Aug 1877 Sir John Robertson 17 Aug 1877 17 Dec 1877 James Squire Farnell 25 Jun 1825 21 Aug 1888 18 Dec 1877 20 Dec 1878 Henry Parkes 21 Dec 1878 04 Jan 1883 (From 29 Dec 1881 to 19 Aug 1882, Sir John Robinson acted as Premier due to Parkes’ ill-health). Sir Alexander Stuart 21 Mar 1824 16 Jun 1886 05 Jan 1883 06 Oct 1885 Sir George Richard Dibbs 12 Oct 1834 05.08.1904 07 Oct 1885 21 Dec 1885 Sir John Robertson 22 Dec 1885 25 Feb 1886

Appendix C – NSW government – 1870 to 1935 Page 157

Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings 20 Mar 1831 11 Jul 1897 26 Feb 1886 19 Jan 1887 Sir Henry Parkes 20 Jan 1887 16 Jan 1889 Sir George Richard Dibbs 17 Jan 1889 07 Mar 1889 Sir Henry Parkes (Free trade) 08 Mar 1889 22 Oct 1891 Sir George Richard Dibbs (Protectionist) 23 Oct 1891 02 Aug 1894 Sir George Houston Reid 25 Feb 1845 12 Sep 1918 03 Aug 1894 13 Sep 1899 (Free Trade) Sir William John Lyne 06 Apr 1844 03 Aug 1913 14 Sep 1899 27 Mar 1901 (Protectionist) Sir John See (Progressive) 14 Oct 1844 31 Jan 1907 28 Mar 1901 14 Jun 1904 Thomas Waddell (Progressive) 1854 25 Oct 1940 15 Jun 1904 29 Aug 1904 Sir Joseph Hector Carruthers 21 Dec 1857 10 Dec 1932 30 Aug 1904 01 Oct 1907 (Liberal Reform) Sir Charles Gregory Wade (Liberal) 26 Jan 1863 26 Sep 1922 02 Oct 1907 20 Oct 1910 James Sinclair Taylor McGowen 6 Aug 1855 07 Apr 1922) 21 Oct 1910 29 Jun 1913 (Australian Labor Party - ALP) William Arthur Holman (ALP) 04 Aug 1871 05 Jun 1934 30 Jun 1913 15 Nov 1916 William Arthur Holman 15 Nov 1916 12 Apr 1920 (Nationalist) John Storey (ALP) 15 May 1869 05 Oct 1921 13 Apr 1920 10 Oct 1921 James Dooley (ALP) 26 Apr 1877 02 Feb 1950 10 Oct 1921 20 Dec 1921 Sir George Warburton Fuller 22 Jan 1861 22 Jul 1940 20 Dec 1921 (Nationalist) James Dooley (ALP) 20 Dec 1921 13 Apr 1922 Sir George Warburton Fuller (Nationalist) 12 Apr 1922 17 Jun 1925 John Thomas Lang (ALP) 21 Dec 1876 27 Sep 1975 17 Jun 1925 18 Oct 1927 Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin 05 May 1874 31 Aug 1941 18 Oct 1927 03 Nov 1930 (Nationalist) John Thomas Lang (ALP) 04 Nov 1930 13 May 1932 Sir Bertram Sydney Stevens 02 Jan 1899 24 Mar 1973 13 May 1932 10 Feb 1932 (United Australia Party) ∗ Although sometimes called ‘Premier’ in earlier years, the portfolio of ‘Premier’ in New South Wales dates from 1920. The leader of the government was usually referred to as ‘Colonial Secretary’ although some leaders used other titles.

Appendix C – NSW government – 1870 to 1935 Page 158

Minsters of Justice and Public Instruction (to 1880)* Name Birth Death Start End Sir George Wigram Allen 16 May 1824 23 Jul 1885 9 Dec 1873 8 Feb 1875 Joseph Docker 1802 9 Dec 1884 9 Feb 1875 21 Mar 1877 Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor 30 Apr 1839 04 Apr 1915 22 Mar 1877 16 Aug 1877 Joseph Leary 1 Jan 1831 20 Oct 1881 18 Dec 1877 20 Dec 1878 Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor 21 Dec 1878 30 Apr 1880 ∗ Portfolio created 9th December 1873.

Ministers of Public Instruction (1880 to 1925) Name Birth Death Start End Sir John Robertson 1 May 1880 10 Nov 1881 Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor 14 Nov 1881 04 Jan 1883 Sir George Houston Reid 5 Jan 1883 6 Mar 1884 William Joseph Trickett 2 Sep 1843 4 Jul 1916 2 May 1885 21 Dec 1885 James Henry Young 15 May 1834 9 May 1908 22 Dec 1885 25 Feb 1886 Sir Arthur Renwick 30 May 1837 23 Nov 1908 26 Feb 1886 19 Jan 1887 James Inglis 24 Nov 1845 15 Dec 1908 20 Jan 1887 16 Jan 1889 Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor 17 Jan 1889 07 Mar 1889 Sir Joseph Hector Carruthers 8 Mar 1889 22 Oct 1891 Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor 23 Oct 1891 2 Aug 1894 Jacob Garrard 1846 5 Nov 1931 3 Aug 1898 15 Aug 1899 James Alexander Hogue 2 Sep 1846 2 Aug 1920 27 Aug 1898 13 Sep 1899 John Perry 13 Jul 1845 10 May 1920 14 Sep 1899 14 Jun 1904 John Lionel Fegan 13 Jul 1845 10 May 1920 15 Jun 1904 29 Aug 1904 Broughton Barnabas O’Conor 1 Nov 1868 2 Feb 1953 29 Aug 1904 13 May 1907 James Alexander Hogue 14 May 1907 20 Oct 1910 Sir George Stephenson Beeby 23 May 1869 18 Jul 1942 21 Oct 1910 10 Sep 1911 Ambrose Campbell Carmichael 1862 29 Dec 1932 11 Sep 1911 26 Nov 1911 Frederick Flowers 4 Mar 1864 14 Dec 1928 27 Nov 1911 29 Feb 1912 Ambrose Campbell Carmichael 1 Mar 1912 5 Mar 1915 William Arthur Holman 6 Mar 1915 15 Mar 1915 Arthur Hill Griffith 16 Oct 1861 1 Sep 1946 15 Mar 1915 7 Nov 1916 Augustus George Frederick James 30 Oct 1866 27 Feb 1934 15 Nov 1916 12 Apr 1920 Thomas Davies Mutch 17 Oct 1885 4 Jun 1958 13 Apr 1920 20 Dec 1921

Appendix C – NSW government – 1870 to 1935 Page 159

Thomas John Ley 28 Oct 1921 24 Jul 1947 20 Dec 1921 Thomas Davies Mutch 20 Dec 1921 13 Apr 1922 Albert Bruntnell 4 May 1866 31 Jan 1929 13 Apr 1922 17 Jun 1925

Ministers of Education (from 1925 to 1935) Name Birth Death Start End Thomas Davies Mutch 17 Jun 1925 26 May 1927 William Davies* 1 Jan 1883 17 Feb 1956 27 May 1927 18 Oct 1927 David Henry Drummond 11 Feb 1890 13 Jun 1965 18 Oct 1927 3 Nov 1930 William Davies 4 Nov 1930 13 May 1932 David Henry Drummond 16 May 1932 16 May 1941 ∗ For this period the title reverted to Minster for Public Instruction

Others Other Members of Parliament mentioned in the text. Name Birth Death Start End Edward Combes 6 Sep 1830 18 Oct 1895 Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly 23 Feb 1872 7 Oct 1885 Member of the NSW Legislative Council 19 May 1891 18 Oct 1895 From Parliamentary Record, Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, 1824 – 2007, Volume VIII, First Edition

Appendix C – NSW government – 1870 to 1935 Page 160

Appendix D –British artists in the AGNSW collection participating at the Royal Academy

See notes below Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Alma-Tadema Lawrence 1836 1912 Cleopatra 1920 G 1876 1875 1879 1869 1912 Sir, RWS Archer-Shee Martin 1769 1850 Portrait of a man 1917 G 1798 1800 1789 1845 President RA Aumonier James 1832 1911 The borderland 1916 P 1904 1870 1911 RI, ROI Bateman James 1893 1959 Woodland with cattle 1933 P 1932 1935 1942 1924 1960 RSA Batten John Dickson 1860 1932 Snowdrop and the seven little men 1897 P 1891 1922 Beechey William 1753 1839 Portrait of a man 1915 G 1793 1797 1776 1839 Sir Beeton Alan 1880 1942 Marguerite 1933 P 1928 1923 1943 Belcher George 1875 1947 Still life 1929 P 1929 1931 1909 1948 Bell Eleanor 1874 The Burgomaster 1885 P 1874 1882 Bell Robert Anning 1863 1933 The south wind: a frieze 1915 P 1885 1904 RWS Bocquet E Still-life 1914 B 1817 1846 Bough Samuel 1822 1878 The prison of the Bass 1891 P 1856 1876 RSA Bourdillon Frank Wright 18?? Post On Bideford Sands 1890 P 1889 1882 1892 1928 Bouvier Joseph c. Post Gleaners 1899 G 1839 1888 1827 1910 Bradley Basil 1842 1904 The orphans 1882 P 1880 1873 1899 RWS Brangwyn Frank 1867 1956 The Scoffers 1897 P 1896 1898 1919 1885 1953 President RE, Sir, Salon 1897 The boatswain 1917 P Brett John 1831 1902 The (Cowles) Rocks 1888 P 1880 1856 1901 The Lion, the Lizard, and the Stags 1890 X 1889 Bright Beatrice The landing of the White Horse on 1914 G 1896 1928 the shores of Britain Broad Sophie Landscape 1910 - ? 1916? Bromley William c 1888 Gossip at the stile 1880 P 1844 1870 RBA 1818 Brown Ford Madox 1821 1893 Chaucer at the Court of Edward III 1876 P 1851 1841 1853

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Brown John Alfred 1866 1955 August morning 1920 P 1920 1902 1915 1891 1942 RWA, Sir Arnesby The marshes near Norwich 1922 P RWA Summer pastures 1926 P Brundrit Reginald Grange 1883 1960 A northern winter 1926 P 1926 1931 1938 1906 1961 Bundy Edgar 1862 1922 Gipsy Fortune Teller 1907 P 1915 1881 1922 RI, RBA, NZIE 1907 Burgess John Bagnold 1830 1897 The Tambourine Girl 1886 P 1877 1888 1850 1896 Burrington Arthur A 1856 1924 The bribe 1896 P 1888 1918 TIE 1894 Bush Harry 1883 1957 The Ash-tree 1928 P 1928 1922 1954 Butterworth Prince George 1879 P Case Ethel 1817 1904 Lord Tennyson 1903 G Clausen George 1852 1944 Propping the rick: a stormy day 1912 P 1911 1894 1908 1876 1943 Sir An Interior 1913 P Watson‘s barn 1933 P Cole George 1810 1883 The weald of Kent 1877 P 1849 1882 SBA Cole George Vicat 1833 1893 Arundel Castle 1884 P 1877 1869 1880 1853 1892 Coleman Charles 1807 1874 St. Peters at sunset from the Doria 1899 G 1839 1869 Pamphili Gardens, Rome Collier Hon John 1850 1834 The Lute Player 1887 P 1874 1934 AJIE 1887 Connard Philip 1875 1958 The picnic 1917 P 1918 1925 1900 1959 Sir Hubert Wilkins 1928 P Cooke Edward William 1811 1880 Mont St Michel - Shrimpers 1887 P 1843 1851 1863 1835 1879 Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice 1888 P 1855 Cooper Thomas Sidney 1803 1902 Minster marshes, East Kent 1880 P 1845 1868 1833 1902 SIE 1879 Canterbury meadows 1928 G Corbet Edith 1880 1916 Macgillicuddy’s Reeks 1933 B 1892 1916 RHA Corbet Matthew Ridley 1850 1902 Before the Dawn, Perugia 1891 P 1875 1902 Cowper Frank Cadogan 1877 1958 Faust’s first sight of Marguerite 1915 C 1915 1907 1934 1899 1957 Cox David 1783 1859 Landscape 1931 G 1805 1844 Crome John 1768 1821 Thatched cottage, close view 1899 G 1806 1818 The glade cottage 1899 G Dade Ernest 1868 1935 The Pool, London 1891 P 1887 1912

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Dahl Michael 1656 1743 Portrait of a lady 1883 T De Breanski Alfred 1852 1928 A Welsh Lane 1883 P 1892 1890 RBA Evening–‘Softly falls the even light 1912 G 1872 etc’ De Glehn Wilfred Gabriel 1870 1951 Breakfast under the arbour 1912 P 1923 1932 1919 1951 Roses and rosemary, Corfu 1912 P Dicksee J R The Daughter of the House 1880 P 1850 1900 SIE 1879 Dicksee Thomas Francis 1819 1895 Hermione 1886 P 1841 1895 Dobson William Charles 1817 1898 Peace be to this House 1876 P 1867 1859 1871 1842 1894 Thomas Dockree Mark Edwin Old Mill - Pembroke 1880 P 1868 1890 SIE 1879 Dollman John Charles 1851 1934 Temptation of St. Anthony 1935 G 1925 1872 1934 RI Douglas Edwin 1848 1914 “Train up a child in the way he 1892 P 1869 1900 should go.” Dugdale Thomas Cantrell 1880 1952 The Jericho Valley and Jordan 1919 P 1936 1943 1902 1953 ROI Dunlop Ronald Ossory 1894 1973 Miss Louisa MacDonald 1933 G 1939 1931 1970 The pier, Walberswick 1933 P Durden James 1878 The nightingale 1930 G 1909 1937 East Alfred 1849 1913 A sunlit haven 1897 P 1898 1913 1883 1914 RE, President RBA The valley of the Lambourne 1903 X 1902 Elmore Alfred W 1815 1881 John Alden and Priscilla 1880 P 1878 1845 1856 1834 1880 SIE 1879 Lenore 1880 P SIE 1879 Eves Reginald Greville 1876 1941 H B Irving 1914 P 1933 1939 1901 1941 ROI Fay F Don Quixote 1882 P Fildes Samuel Luke 1843 1927 The widower 1883 P 1876 1877 1887 1868 1927 Sir Fisher Mark 1841 1923 A Hampshire farm 1913 P 1911 1919 1872 1923 RI Landscape and cattle 1926 P Longstock — winter 1928 P Fisher Samuel Melton 1860 1939 Festa: a Venetian cafe 1890 P 1889 1917 1924 1878 1940 RWA, RAAS 1890 Flint William Russell 1880 1969 The Lemnians 1925 P 1924 1924 1933 1906 1970 Forbes Elizabeth Adela 1859 1912 Mignon 1892 P 1890 1883 1912 RAAS 1892

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Forbes Stanhope 1857 1947 Their ever-shifting home 1890 P 1887 1891 1910 1878 1945 RAAS 1890 Alexander Foster A J Sir William Windeyer 1901 G 1885 1905 Foster W Gilbert 1855 1906 Peace 1919 B 1876 1893 Friedenson Arthur 1872 1955 Summer clouds 1916 P 1916 1889 1960 Furse Charles Wellington 1868 1904 Hon J B Watt, MLC 1922 G 1903 1888 1905 Gere Charles Marsh 1869 1957 The lost sheep 1900 P 1934 1939 1890 1958 RWS Glendening Alfred A (Snr) 1840 1910 Streatley on Thames 1890 P 1889 1865 1903 View in Greenwich Park 1899 G Goodwin Albert 1845 1932 The Sultan and his camp by the 1924 P 1860 1920 RWS, RWA enchanted lake Gore Spencer Frederick 1878 1914 The Pool, Panshanger Park 1933 P Gotch Thomas Cooper 1854 1931 My crown and sceptre 1900 P 1892 1880 1931 RPBC, RI Gow Andrew Carrick 1848 1920 Relief of Leyden 1879 P 1876 1880 1890 1867 1920 RI A Jacobite proclamation 1882 P 1882 Graham Peter 1836 1921 Rising mists 1888 P 1876 1881 1866 1921 RSA Grant Duncan 1885 1978 The road, Sussex 1933 P 1941 1941 Greiffenhagen Maurice William 1862 1931 The Judgement of Paris 1897 P 1896 1916 1922 1884 1932 Grieve Walter 1937 Marguerites 1933 P RSA Griffiths Tom 18xx 19xx Canal of the Guidecca, Venice 1899 G 1871 1904 Santa Maria della Salute, Venice 1899 G Guy Cyril Graham Old Cornish farm 1933 P 1929 1930 RSA Haite George Charles 1855 1924 Queen Victoria‘s Diamond Jubilee 1906 P 1883 1922 RI, ROI, NZIE Procession passing the Houses of 1906 Parliament Hall Oliver 1869 1957 Le Pont Rouge, Albi, France 1912 P 1909 1920 1927 1890 1958 RWS Halswelle Keeley 1832 1891 Non Angli, sed angeli 1880 P 1877 1862 1891 RI, SIE 1879 Meadow walk, Christchurch, Oxford 1888 P CIE 1888 Hamilton Vereker Monteith 1856 1931 The Ambuscade (Ambush) 1897 P 1905 1927 RE Harcourt George 1869 1947 Spring 1917 P 1916 1919 1926 1893 1948 Hargitt Edward 1835 1895 Carse o' Gowrie 1880 P 1873 1853 1881 RI, SIE 1879 Harvey George 1806 1876 He paid too much for his whistle 1926 G 1843 1873 Sir, President RSA

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Harwood Robert A mountain torrent 1894 G 1855 1876 Heath Frank G 1873 1936 Plucking geese 1929 G 1904 1935 Hemy Charles Napier 1841 1917 Smugglers “To save their necks” 1906 P 1899 1897 1865 1918 NZIE 1906, Herring John Frederick 1815 1907 A English farmyard 1892 P 1818 1873 Hodgson John Evan 1831 1895 The Eastern Question 1879 P 1878 1872 1879 1856 1893 Holden Albert William 1848 1932 Capture of Colonel Blood and 1899 P 1883 1917 recovery of the stolen Regalia, Tower of London, 19 May 1671 Holmes Charles John 1868 1937 Stony Field, Teesdale 1933 P 1929 1936 Sir, Hook James Clarke 1819 1907 Flotsam and Jetsam 1891 P 1874 1850 1859 1839 1902 Horsley Walter Charles 1855 1921 The Mufti's Solace 1880 P 1875 1911 SIE 1879 Great Britain in Egypt, 1886. 1889 P 1887 CIE 1888 Hughes-Stanton Herbert Edwn 1870 1937 Sunlight through the trees 1912 P 1913 1923 1873 1938 Sir,PRWS,ROI,R Pelham WA Hulme Frederick William 1816 1884 At Newark Priory, Surrey 1882 P 1882 1852 1884 Hunter Colin 1841 1904 Drifting 1881 P 1883 1868 1903 The Salmon Fishers, Loch Fyne 1881 P Ingram Walter Ayerst 1855 1913 Moonlight 1889 P 1889 1880 1912 RBA, RAAS 1889 Jacobs John Emmanuel 18xx The Path Fields 1887 P 1882 1898 RBA Jacomb-Hood George Percy 1857 1929 Triumph of Spring 1889 P 1879 1929 ROI, RE, RAAS 1889 John Augustus E 1878 1961 Canadian soldier 1930 P 1921 1928 1922 1962 Reverie 1933 P Johnston Alexander 1815 1891 A waif 1881 P 1877 1836 1886 Kettledrum Quadrille 1877 P 1876 Jones (Attr) George 1786 1869 Battle of Joppa 1883 T 1822 1823 1803 1870 Jones Charles 1836 1892 A Corner of the Farm 1900 P 1861 1883 RCA, ARSA Kelly Gerald Festus 1879 1972 Gitanilla (Spanish gypsy) 1916 P 1914 1922 1930 1909 1970 Sir, RHA Kerr-Lawson James 1862 1939 Refugees returning to Cambrai 1920 P under protection of an Australian Trooper King Henry John Yeend 1855 1924 A farm near the Kentish Coast 1889 P 1876 1904 RBA, RI, RAAS 1889 The garden by the river 1897 P 1897 Page 165

Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Still waters 1933 G Knight John William 1843 1908 Halcyon days by murmuring streams 1883 P 1861 1907 RBA, RE Buxton Deserted 1887 P Knight Laura 1877 1970 The frozen pond 1917 P 1927 1936 1904 1970 Dame La Thangue Henry Herbert 1859 1929 Cider apples 1913 P 1899 1897 1913 1878 1930 Lark Tremayne 1857 Rejected 1883 G 1882 1883 Lavery John 1856 1941 The lady with the white feathers 1899 P 1911 1921 1886 1941 Sir, RSA The Basque country 1917 P Law David 1831 1901 Whitby Harbor (Evening) 1882 P 1873 1899 RPE Leighton Frederic 1830 1896 Wedded 1882 P 1882 1864 1868 1855 1896 Lord, President RA Head from “The Arts of Industry as 1884 C applied to Peace”: replica Moorish Garden at Granada 1931 G 1874 Leighton J Blair Harry Tighe (portrait) 1928 G 1914 1938 Leslie George Dunlop 1835 1921 My duty towards my neighbour 1891 P 1867 1876 1857 1920 Lewis Charles James ? 1892 The Water Lane 1883 T 1873 1853 1890 RI Linnell John (Snr) 1792 1882 The bird catcher 1891 P 1807 1881 Long Edwin 1829 1891 A Dorcas Meeting in the 6th century 1889 P 1875 1881 1855 1891 Lucas John Seymour 1849 1923 The Gordon Riots, 1780 1879 P 1879 1885 1897 1872 1923 RI, SIE 1879 The Armada in sight, 1588 1884 P 1880 The King’s rival 1907 P 1901 NZIE 1906, Macallum J T Hamilton 1841 1896 Catching dabs; View in Tarbert 1882 T 1869 1896 RI Harbour, Scotland. Mackie Charles Hodge 1862 1920 A Japanese album 1912 P 1892 1917 RSA MacWhirter John 1839 1911 Mount Etna from the Greek Theatre, 1891 T 1890 1878 1893 1865 1911 Taormina Mann Harrington 1864 1937 Mona and her dolls 1912 P 1885 1937 Margetson William Henry 1861 1940 The sea hath its pearls 1897 P 1897 1885 1934 RI, ROI Marks Henry Stacy 1829 1898 Old friends revisited 1879 P 1879 1870 1878 1853 1897 Marlow William 1740 1813 San Giorgio Maggiore 1921 P 1798 1807 The Rialto Bridge, Venice 1921 P

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Mason George Hemming 1818 1872 A Staffordshire landscape 1889 P 1870 1857 1872 McTaggart William 1835 1910 Rainy day, Carradale Harbour 1920 G 1866 1875 RSA Michie James Coutts 1861 1919 Snow scene 1922 G 1891 1919 Miles Thomas Rose 1869 1906 A coming storm 1880 P 1877 1888 SIE 1879 Daybreak off the Old Town - 1890 G Hastings Millais John Everett 1829 1896 The Captive 1885 P 1853 1854 1846 1896 Sir, President RA Mogford John 1821 1885 Crossing the Bar, Scarborough 1880 P 1846 1881 RI, SIE 1879 Monamy Peter 1680 1749 Naval battle scene 1919 G Morland George 1763 1804 Landscape 1899 G 1773 1804 Mostyn Tom 1864 1930 I wonder 1915 P 1891 1928 ROI, RWA Munnings Alfred James 1878 1959 Shade 1912 P 1912 1919 1925 1899 1960 Sir, President RA, RI The coming storm 1926 P 1925 Murray David 1849 1933 The Angler 1902 P 1895 1890 1905 1875 1934 Sir, President RI River blossoms 1906 X Mackerel in the bay 1914 G 1911 Newton Algernon 1880 1968 Dutch Garden from the Serpentine 1926 P 1936 1943 1903 1969 Nicholson William 1872 1949 Pine and tomato 1933 P The blue shop 1933 P Niemann Edmund John 1813 1876 Whitby Harbour 1915 B 1844 1872 North John William 1842 1924 Summer in the English West 1900 P 1900 1893 1869 1924 RWS Northcote James 1746 1831 Self portrait 1917 G 1786 1787 1773 1828 Olsson Julius 1864 1942 The night tide 1915 P 1915 1914 1920 1890 1943 The longship’s light 1930 G 1917 Orpen William 1878 1931 Italian major 1928 P 1910 1919 1904 1932 Sir Owen William 1769 1825 Paterson, Col. William 1913 B 1804 1805 1792 1824 Paterson, Mrs. 1913 B Parsons Alfred 1847 1920 Sussex Weald 1932 P 1896 1871 1920 Penn William Charles 1877 1968 The picnic 1922 P 1904 1947 ROI Peploe Samuel John 1871 1935 Melon 1933 P Peppercorn Arthur Douglas 1847 1924 The road to the farm 1934 G 1883 1924

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Phillips Thomas 1770 1845 Portrait of Dr B 1923 G 1804 1807 1792 1846 Philpot Glyn 1884 1937 The draughtsman 1930 P 1923 1904 1938 Pickering Joseph L 1845 1912 Pero Bay, Corsica 1907 P 1874 1912 RI, RBA, NZIE 1906 Pickersgill Henry William 1782 1875 Portrait of Mrs Pickersgill 1888 P 1822 1825 1806 1872 Self-portrait (in his 50s?) 1888 P Self-portrait (in his 20s)? 1927 P Poynter Edward John 1836 1919 The visit of the Queen of Sheba to 1892 P 1891 1868 1876 1861 1919 Sir, President RA King Solomon Hon Violet Monckton 1914 G 1899 Priestman Bertram 1868 1951 Homewards 1900 P 1916 1923 1890 1951 A Dorset hillside 1912 P Pyne James Baker 1800 1870 Lucerne OR Near Macagno, Lago di 1876 P 1836 1855 SBA Maggiore, Italy Reid Flora Macdonald 1872 1938 Marketplace, Bruges 1924 P 1881 1932 Rhys Oliver act. 1893 Meditation 1890 P 1880 1893 1876 Riviere Briton 1840 1920 Requiescat 1898 P 1888 1877 1880 1858 1919 Roberts David 1796 1864 Edinburgh from Calton Hill 1890 P 1838 1840 1826 1864 Interior of the Basilica of St Peter’s 1890 P Robertson Henry Robert 1839 1921 Ave Maria 1891 G 1879 1869 1918 Gleaners 1891 G 1878 Sant James 1820 1916 Lesbia 1884 P 1861 1869 1840 1916 Mrs Watt 1922 G Sephton George Harcourt 1885 1923 Ploughing with oxen — Brighton 1888 G 1886 1885 1922 Downs, Sussex W Holman Hunt, OM, RWS 1906 G Shannon Charles H 1863 1937 The bath 1912 P 1911 1920 1885 1937 Sims Charles 1873 1928 Swallows 1912 P 1908 1915 1893 1928 An island festival 1917 X 1907 Smeall W 1790 1883 Old Edinburgh 1926 G Smythe Lionel Percy 1839 1918 Shorthanded 1894 P 1874 1897 1911 1863 1915 RWS, Stokes Adrian Scott 1854 1935 Looking towards Skye 1922 P 1921 1910 1919 1876 1936

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Stokes Marianne 1855 1927 Saint Elizabeth working for the poor 1920 P 1920 1884 1926 Stone Frank 1800 1859 Self-portrait 1919 B 1851 1837 1860 Stone Marcus 1840 1921 Stealing the keys 1890 P 1866 1876 1886 1858 1920 Stott Edward 1855 1918 Where the dark earth sleeping lies: 1912 P 1906 1883 1917 or, A cloisonné sky Strudwick John Melhuish 1849 1937 A story book 1887 P 1876 1876 AJIE 1887 Swan John MacAllan 1847 1910 East African leopards 1898 P 1896 1892 1905 1878 1910 Talmage Algernon M 1871 1939 Breezy pastures 1912 P 1922 1929 1905 1940 ROI, RWA, RBA A northern haven 1915 X Taylor Leonard Campbell 1874 1969 Piquet 1914 P 1923 1931 1905 1963 ROI Thomas Grosvenor 1856 1923 Landscape 1931 G 1892 1892 Thompson Harry S 1901 Outside the fortifications of Paris 1890 P Thompson Leslie Summer 1891 P Is this Leslie J Thomson? Topham Frank William 1838 1924 Renouncing the vanities by order of 1881 P 1881 1860 1918 RI, ROI, Warwick Savonarola Torrance James 1859 1916 Landscape 1933 G Tuke Henry Scott 1858 1929 A sailor’s yarn 1889 P 1887 1899 1914 1879 1929 RWS, RBA RAAS 1889, Walker Ethel 1861 1951 Parrot and roses 1933 P 1940 1898 1951 Dame Waller Samuel Edmund 1850 1903 Home 1890 P 1877 1871 1902 ROI Ward Edward M 1816 1879 The Year after the Battle 1882 P 1876 1846 1854 1834 1877 Waterhouse John William 1849 1917 Diogenes 1886 P 1882 1885 1895 1874 1917 Waterlow Ernest Albert 1850 1919 Oyster Fishers 1890 P 1889 1902 1872 1920 Sir, President, RWS, RAAS 1890 Watkins B Colles 1833 1891 A salmon pool, Connemara 1877 G 1868 1874 RHA Watson Henry 1871 1936 Summer flood 1926 P 1926 1905 1936 Watts George Frederic 1817 1904 Alice 1907 G 1866 1867 1837 1904 Webb James 1825 1895 A street scene, Cairo 1881 P 1853 1888 Whiting Frederic 1874 1962 The Huntsman 1930 G 1893 1959 Whitley G In the Essex Lanes, Walthamstow 1881 P 1868 1868 Wilkinson Hugh 1850 1948 A Hampshire waste 1889 P 1875 1920 RAAS 1889

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Name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq. How Exh Elected Elected First Last Memberships, year acq RA2 ARA RA RA2 RA3 honours, etc. Williams Terrick 1860 1936 Turkish boat 1907 P 1903 1924, 1933 1905 1936 RI, ROI, NZIE 1906 The Rialto, Venice 1926 P 1926 Willis Henry Brittan 1810 1894 England 1884 P 1844 1861 RWS Wollen Walter Barns 1857 1936 Britain's watchdogs 1911 P 1909 1879 1922 RI Wyllie William Lionel 1851 1931 A herring fishery 1884 P 1887 1907 1868 1931 Notes 1. Acq year: Year work was acquired by the AGNSW, How Acq: Method of acquisition - P: Purchased, C: Commissioned, G: Gift, B: Bequest, X: Exchanged for another work by the same artist, T: Transferred, Exh RA: Year the work acquired was exhibited at the RA, First RA Year when this artist exhibited his/her first work at the RA, Last RA Year when this artist exhibited his/her last work at the RA. Last year checked was 1970. 2. Works are only included if the name is identical to that in the RA dictionaries or the name is similar and is also identified in the AGNSW records as having being exhibited at the RA. 3. Works exhibited under maiden names (if any) are included for married female artists. 4. The RA Summer Exhibition is for living artists, however, sometimes works are exhibited the year after an artist’s death.

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Appendix E – French artists in the AGNSW collection exhibiting at the Salons See notes below Last name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq How Exh at Memberships, honours and notes year acq Salon Baron Henri Charles Antoine 1816 1885 Les Jouers de Boules 1883 T 1874 Chevalier of the Legion of Honour Acquired from SIE by Colonial Secretary & transferred to the AGNSW. Berthon Nicolas 1831 1888 An interior in Auvergne 1879 T Officer of the Legion of Honour, SIE 1879 Berton Paul Emile 1909 Lake St Clair Reservoir 1881 T Biard Francois 1801 1882 The Hunter / Le Chasseur 1905 G Blanche Jacques Emile E 1861 1942 Marshal Foch 1920 C Boudin Eugene 1825 1898 The beach 1926 P Corot Camilel Jean Baptise 1796 1875 Le vieux pont 1926 P Courtois Gustave 1852 1924 Study 1890 P 1890 De Neuville Alphonse 1835 1885 The Defence of Rorke's Drift 1882 P DeFaux Alexandre 1826 1900 Bassa Cour (Poultry Yard) 1880 P SIE 1879. Delort Charles‐Edward 1841 1895 L'arrive à l'auberge 1894 P Detaille Edouard 1848 1912 Vive L'Empereur 1893 P 1891 Dinet Alphonse Etienne 1861 1929 The Snake Charmer 1890 P 1890 Doucet Henri Lucien 1856 1895 Patineuses (Ice Skaters) 1894 P Du Faur Raoul 1852 1937 Study of the scriptures 1910 G 1908 Dubufe Edouard‐Louis 1820 1883 Tete de Femme 1880 P Officer of the Legion of Honour. Dufour Camille Emile 1841 1900 Seine at Vetheuil 1890 P 1890 Dupuy Paul Michel 1869 1949 General Pau 1921 C Fantin‐Latour Ignace Henri Jean 1836 1904 Flowers and fruit 1923 P Theodore Flameng Francois 1856 1923 Napoleon at Waterloo 1890 P 1890 Goupil Jules 1839 1883 The village girl 1894 P Grimou Alexis 1680 1733 Portrait 1925 P Haquette Georges Jean‐Marie 1854 1906 On the Jetty 1888 P 1888 Harpignies Henri 1819 1916 Morning in the Nievre 1911 P Hoffbauer Charles J 1875 1957 Among the rooftops 1905 P 1905 Iwill Marie Jospeh‐Leon Clavel 1850 1923 Banks of the Lyn, Devonshire 1887 P 1887 Page 171

Last name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq How Exh at Memberships, honours and notes year acq Salon Kaemmerer Frederick Hendrik 1839 1892 Servante d'auberge 1894 P La Touche Gaston 1854 1913 The first born 1888 P 1888 Awarded medal at Salon La Touche Gaston 1854 1913 Le Baiser du Soleil 1923 P Laemlien Alexandre 1813 1871 Le Reve 1916 G Landelle Charles 1821 1908 Coptic woman 1880 P 1878 Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. SIE 1879 Landelle Charles 1821 1908 Iseménie, nymph of Diana 1880 P 1878 Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. SIE 1879 Lansyer Emmanuel 1835 1895 Chateau de Loches 1890 P 1890 Le Blant Julien 1851 1936 L'Battaillion Carré 1890 P 1880 Le Marie Des Emile 1847 1903 The Marsh 1890 P Laudrelles Lesrel Adolphe Alexander 1839 1929 The Connoisseurs 1880 P Probably acquired from Sydney International Exhibition (name of work is different) Loroin Julie Spanish gypsy 1883 G Luminais Evariste Vital 1822 1896 The Sons of Clovis II 1886 P 1880 Chevalier of the Legion of Honour Lynch Albert 1851 1912 The portrait sitting 1894 P Maxence Edgard H 1871 1954 The Book of Peace 1913 P 1913 Montenard Frederic 1849 1926 Grape harvest in Provence 1890 P 1890 Muenier Jules Alexis 1863 1942 Listening to Mozart 1923 P Nuel Edouard Louis XVI giving final instructions to 1911 C the Comte de la Perouse, 1785 Olive Jean‐Baptiste Joseph 1848 1936 Morning on the Mediterranean 1913 P 1913 Pélouse Leon Germaine 1838 1891 Les Bords du Loing 1884 P 1884 Pélouse Leon Germaine 1838 1891 Beach at Grandchamp 1887 P Pils Isidore 1815 1875 Horse caparisoned 1901 G Pissarro Camille 1830 1903 Peasants' houses, Eragny 1935 P Pointelin Auguste Emmanuel 1839 1933 Landscape hills at Jura 1912 P 1912 Poussart Felix The Tower of Justice ‐ The 1889 P CIE 1888 Alhambra Spain

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Last name Given Birth Death AGNSW work Acq How Exh at Memberships, honours and notes year acq Salon Priou Louis 1845 1917 Satyr's family 1884? G 1878 Ralli Theodore Jacques 1852 1909 La catechisme dans un mosque 1884 P 1883 (Algiers) Roblin Paul 19 The Blue Devil 1919 P Sallé Francois 1839 1899 The Anatomy class at the Ecole des 1888 P 1888 Awarded a medal at the Salon Beaux‐Arts Sidaner Henri le 1867 1939 Canal at Bruges 1930 G Simon Lucien 1861 1945 The netters 1923 P Soulacroix Joseph Frederic Charles 1825 1889 A merry jest 1908 G Vernet Claude‐Joseph 1714 1789 Storm and Wreck 1918 G Vierge Urrabieta Daniel 1851 1904 Landscape the farm 1924 P Born in Spain, moved to France in 1869 Weber Theodore Alexander 1838 1907 Ostend 1885 P Notes 5. Acq year: Year work was acquired by the AGNSW, How Acq: Method of acquisition, P: Purchased, C: Commissioned, G: Gift, B: Bequest and T: Transferred, Exh at Salon: Year the work acquired was exhibited at the Salon 6. Artists may have exhibited other works in different years. 7. Excludes non French artists who may have exhibited at the Salons.

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Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 On 21st April 1902, the AGNSW wrote to the Chairman of their London Selection Committee, Thomas L Devitt. This letter included criticisms of works purchased in London since 1891. Devitt, after much deliberation and consultation with other London Selection Committee members, replied with a 14 page letter on 15th August 1902. In this he states that a list of works is enclosed with the remarks made about these works in the letter of 21st April together with earlier comments sent from Sydney to London. The nine page list was not enclosed but was sent on 22nd August 1902. The list is below. Spelling as per original but pagination is different.

Name of picture &c. Remarks 21 Apl Previous remarks &c. 1902 “Shall I” by F. D. “... cannot be (4 Dec. 1900) “This picture is viewed as Millet said to have being coldly correct, but there is a general Price £315 added much to feeling that the Artist has scarcely realised Purchased Aug. 1900 the interest of his ideal. Nevertheless there is much good the Gallery” work in it.” “The Lost Sheep by” “... cannot be (21 May 1900) “This picture has been Chas M Gere Price said to have approvingly inspected by the board, who £100 purchased in added much to view the work as a desirable acquisition.” Jan. 1900 the interest of the Gallery”

“Summer in the One of the “only 4 Dec 1900. “I’m glad to report that this English West by J W works purchased picture is generally much appreciated.” North A.R.A. Price since 1891 £600 purchased Nov. which may be 1899 said to come up to the specified requirements of the Trustees.” “Homewards” B “... cannot be 29 Jany 1900 – I have now pleasure to Priestman (£140) said to have advise receipt of the three pictures “The “My Crown and added much to White Feather,” “Homewards” and “My Sceptre” J.C. Gotch the interest of Crown & Sceptre” and to say that the (£250) the Gallery” Trustees are pleased with these works “The White Feather” ranking their merit in the above order.” J Lavery (£200) all purchased in Nov. 1899

Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 Page 174

Name of picture &c. Remarks 21 Apl Previous remarks &c. 1902 “A Sunlit Haven” by With reference 24 Jany. 1899 An eminently satisfactory Alfd East ARA. Price to “A Sunlit addition to the landscapes of our collection. £600 purchased July Haven” by your Broad & large in treatment, admirably true 1898. colleague Mr to the prevalent tone of an English summer Alfd East, the afternoon. Mr East is to be congratulated as Trustees may the painter of a picture which will be under the special popular not only with the general public, but circumstances of which has gained the suffrages of the more their connection, advanced & capable of our artists here. The be excused for immediate foreground is perhaps a little too having felt great much detailed & therefore somewhat disappointment weakens the breadth of sunlight & and that the artist shadow upon which the whole composition had not seen his depends.” way to paint a special picture for our walls, instead of sending one already five years old! “East African Nil 24th of Jany 1899. “Fashion plays a large Leopards” by J.M. part in the popularity of the modern painter. Swan A.R.A. Price Undoubtedly Mr Swan has been of late been £500 purchased July winning an ever increasing measure of 1898 respect from Artists whose opinions on Art matter command respect, but it is difficult, in front this work, to understand to what qualities this respect is due. It certainly is not the drawing. The head and forelegs of the nearer of the two animals are extremely weak in this direction. Even a badly stuffed specimen would suggest more underlying bone and muscle, while the belly of the same beast is as devoid of definition as a well filled football. Again the leopard is strictly a nocturnal animal: here broad daylight shows him seeking his prey. Taken altogether the pastel of the two leopards already possessed by us, is a much more satisfactory work.”

Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 Page 175

Name of picture &c. Remarks 21 Apl Previous remarks &c. 1902 “The Scoffers “by One of the “only 18 June 1898. “We have received in good Frank Brangwyn works purchased order this picture & I am pleased to report Price £400 purchased since 1891 that the Trustees pronounce a very Mar. 1898 which may be favourable verdict on this work. Powerful, said to come up brilliant & original, the picture will, after to the specified the first shock caused by the surprising requirements of novelty of its daring execution, take its the Trustees.” place as one of our prize possessions. Its breath of tone, its apparently careless yet masterful drawing, together with its wonderful richness of coloration, make it stand out as a distinctive work.” “The Sea hath its Purchased by 15 Apl 1898. “This picture was received in Pearls” by Council of excellent order and on account of this W.H.Margetson in Royal Academy delicate treatment and pleasing subject will Price £300 purchased (across centre no doubt meet with popular appreciation.” 1897 and right hand 18 June 1898. “This drawing wants column in red) largeness of grasp and instead of being Nil. impressive is somewhat niggling while a colouring is weak rather than delicate. It may be classed as a decorative work only & on the whole fails apparently to realise the artist’s conception.” “Snowdrop & the Nil. 11 Oct 1897 “We record your purchase of Seven Little Men” by J.D. Batten’s work & in the trustees are J. D Batten Price pleased at the prospect of possessing an £100 Purchased Dec example of this artist.” 1897. 15 Apl’ 1898. This picture on account of its distinct style of work will be no doubt meet with popular appreciation.” 21 Jan. 1899 Chiefly admirable as a design for a fairy tale, but lacks interest technically as a watercolour drawing. The immense labour is so apparent that the old dictum “ars celare artem” is irresistibly borne in upon one. Certainly more than one of this class of picture would be out of place in a national collection of water colours.”

Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 Page 176

Name of picture &c. Remarks 21 Apl Previous remarks &c. 1902 “The Garden by the Purchased by 11 Oct. 1897. “I am delighted to advise you River” by Yeend Council of that this fine work reached us safely & is King. Price £525 Royal Academy highly appreciated both by the lay and art Purchased 1897 (across centre public. and right hand 18 June 1898. “Technically this picture column in red) exhibits better work (i.e. better than the Nil. Margetson), but is commonplace in character. The two girls, although good in themselves, are too obviously indoor studies & and do not take their place in the outdoor effect; whilst the general effect is somewhat unpleasing.” “Requiescat” by “Declined by 24th of January 1899.” It is thought late in Briton Riviere R.A. Trustees at the day to say that the object of a work of Price £700 purchased Hobart 1896.” art is not to charm by dexterity of handling, May 1897” “Should never or ability to represent textures alone. If this have been were all that would be sought for in purchased at all” selecting work for our Gallery, Mr Riviere’s work would be satisfactory, but unfortunately it is lacking in that quality of sentiment upon which its existence of a great work depends. The solemnity, the immense sadness of death is wanting; one finds oneself wondering at the bright unstained armour! Was he killed in that armour harness? Surely it should be hacked and bruised! Was it placed on the body after death? And if so, is there authority for such custom? The admirable painting of the cloth upon which the body lies insistently challenges notice. The dog’s attitude is exaggerated – it lacks simplicity. Everywhere the mystery & silence of Death is obtruded upon by details, admirable in themselves, but powerless to prevent the impression that we are not face to face with a work of art, but have become possessors of a good furniture picture. I am to add that “Requiescat” was inspected by the Trustees in Hobart some years ago and it was then rejected by them for the reasons now given.”

Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 Page 177

Name of picture &c. Remarks 21 Apl Previous remarks &c. 1902 “Study of leopards” Nil. 27 Aug 1897. “The trustees receive with by J. M. Swan A.R.A. satisfaction your advice of purchase of a Price £103 purchased pastel drawing by J.M. Swan.” May 1897 13 Sept 1897. “This picture unpacked in perfect order and will I think be deemed a desirable addition to our national collection.” “Bust of a Girl” Nil. 24 May 1897. “This, with pedestal, reached (Statuary) by E. us in perfect order and is much admired”. Onslow Ford R.A. 18th of June 1897 “Will you permit me to Price £210 take this opportunity to congratulate you on Purchased January your Onslow Ford purchase. The Bust of a 1897. Girl is held to be instinct (sic) with the highest & and purest art, a noble addition to the collection!” 28 June 1897.” I cannot refrain from recurring to the Bust of a Girl by Onslow Ford and to say that both our artists and our public full of admiration for this pure and beautiful work.” “The Ambuscade” by “...Should never 15 April 1897. “You be glad to know that Vereker M Hamilton have been “The Ambuscade” reached us in capital Price £315 purchased at order and is liked by the Trustees.” Purchased May 1896 all.” “The Judgement of “... cannot be 26 Mar. 1897. This picture reached us Paris” by M. said to have safely, and while the members of the Trust Greiffenhagen added much to have not expressed any definite opinion Price £300. the interest of about it, it seems to be generally felt that the Purchased May 1896. the Gallery” composition is decidedly cramped. The drawing of the male figure is bad throughout, while the hands and feet of Venus leave much to be desired. Although a more modern rendering of the theme would have been more difficult, it would have met with a greater measure of appreciation here, than this … In spite of these drawbacks, the picture is a satisfactory addition to our Collection.” “Shorthanded” by “...Should never 12 January 1895.” I regret to say the feeling Lionel Smythe Price have been of the Trustees after inspection of this work, £250 Purchased purchased at was scarcely ????? from disappointment, for August 1894 “ all.” the reasons that the picture was old, and not nearly the best example of the artist.”

Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 Page 178

Name of picture &c. Remarks 21 Apl Previous remarks &c. 1902 Water-color (sic) Nil. 12 January 1895 “These watercolours are drawing by F. found to be undoubtedly good, but with our Goodall Price £84 present collection, one striking and effective Water-color (sic) work would be more valuable to us than drawing by H. many small, not particularly attractive, Marshall Price £63 pictures painted on the old lines.” Water-color (sic) drawing by E.R. Hughes Price £73.10/- Purchased August 1894 “Virginia” by Nil. 12 Jan’ 1895, “I regret to say the feeling of Professor Costa the Trustees, after inspection of this work Price £315 Purchased was scarcely free from disappointment the August 1894 reason that picture was old & and not nearly the best example of the artist.” “Vive l’Empereur” by Nil. 15 May 1893. “This arrived in perfect order. E. Detaille Price I am very much pleased with the picture. “ £3000 Purchased 22 May 1893.” I am glad to say that February 1893 Detaille’s fine picture is giving very great satisfaction to the Trustees, and also to the public.” 19 June 1893. “I am glad to say that this great work continues to be greatly admired the by visitors to the Gallery.” “Queen of Sheba” by Nil. 15 Nov. 1892. “I am glad to inform you of E. J. Poynter. P.RA. the arrival of this picture in excellent Price £2900 condition. As the Trustees had not yet seen Purchased Sep 1892 it, I am unable by this opportunity to give you their opinion of it. I am greatly pleased

with it myself & have no doubt as to its becoming a very popular picture.” 19 Nov. 1892. “I am glad to tell you that my own opinion as to the merits of this picture has been fully endorsed by the Trustees, who at their meeting on the 17th inst, passed a special vote of thanks to the London Committee for having secured such a fine work, which please convey to them. I may say that the picture has met with unqualified admiration from all who have as yet seen it, and undoubtedly it will form one of the chief attractions of our Gallery.”

Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 Page 179

Name of picture &c. Remarks 21 Apl Previous remarks &c. 1902 Water color drawing Nil. 6 Oct. 1892. “I am glad to inform you that by G. Barrett the Trustees have expressed their entire Price £340. Purchased approval of this drawing.” August 1892

Appendix F – Pictures purchased since 1891 Page 180