The Toilers (Frontispiece) The Wet Road Bronzewings The Hillside A Grey Morning Delphiniums Murray Cliffs Summer Moonlight A Reach of the Murray ow n M Harr ing , Wi ter orning Milking Time "inn ias The Rick Yard At the Sliprails The River Frost an d Sunbeams Ploughing m the Orchard The Willow Tree A Cottage Bunch The Farmyard The Two Stacks ""I " Polly and Jack Scarifying A Pastoral Cot tage in Moonlight The Promenade Spring, Early Morning Hillside with Sheep Hans Heysen (Photograph) BLAC"Sr WHITE PLATE ’ Heysen s Old Studio at Ambleside The Rick Yard Water Gums Gum Trees in Mist The Drinking Pool The Hillside ’ Goat s Head The Plough Turkeys Country Road The Two Trees A Basket Willow Resting Woodside Pastures "L"I The Forge xuru A Study xt vm The Road A Study “ f th l Portion o e C ounet, Paris Turning the Plough Changing Pastures The Home Paddock A Study Farmyard Study Into the Light, Early Morning A Study The Brick "iln Clearing the Harrow Study of Labourer Tree Study, Narrabeen Harrowing A Study PREFACE HEN the paintings of Hans Hey se n were first exhibited abo ut twenty years a g o there were a few keen watchers of the artistic sky of Australia who believed that a new star had swum into their ken . Their faith has long since ’ He s e n s has been justified " y brilliance increased , and he is now regarded not only as one who has already made a splendid contribution — to Australian landscape , but also as a water colourist likely to be ranked with the great . He y se n is represented in most of the few national art galleries we have in Australia "but the greater part of his work is in private collections . He was fortunate in not having to wait long for re c og ni — tion from picture buyers in his adopted country , which is his artistic birthplace , and he was thrice awarded by the N .S .W . National Gallery the Wynne prize for the best landscape of the year . Our ambition has been to make good Australian work as widely - known as possible by means of three colour reproductions , and plans a o . were made of this book some time g It is , of course , no more than a te mporary estimate of a still developing artist , but it represents his work to date as fully as possible . In the selection of pictures we have had the valuable assistance of the artist himself, and the hearty co-"peration of the Director and Trustees of the National Gallery of c Michae l . Dr . S . A . Ewing and Messrs . A . S . M , George A R R M . owell and obert Bryce , of elbourne , Dr George H Abbo"tt and M . R. McGre or . essrs Will Ashton , J g , E Gruner , E W nox , i fie ld R. P . M Norman L ndsay , Ga y Shaw , H Dangar and H orton , s - Sydney, and Mr . T. Barr Smith , Adelaide , to all of whom we tender our thanks . Probably no one is better acquainted with He y se n as an artist or more competent to write upon his work than Lionel Lindsay , to whom we entrusted the critica l introduction to this book . Mr . Lind - say is a practising artist in water colour and other media , who is also well acquainted with the masterpieces of the old world and with the ~ theories of the principal art critics . When asked to write the intro duction , he made a special visit to Ambleside in order to discuss with ' He y se n the latter s methods and aims . We have to thank him for his valuable article . M . Mc uitt 6: Co . s To the printers , essrs A y , and the proces g dne En rav M . eng ravers , essrs Hartland Hyde , y y , and the Globe g M n ing Co ., of elbour e , we are also indebted for the skill and care ' m e n t0 the lf reap“ twe pa rts of the work . THE EDITORS . 4 THE ART "F HANS HEYSEN. Hans He y se n was born in Hamburg in 1877. When he was six years old his father emigrated to Australia , and settled in Adelaide . There Hans went to school until he was fourteen , at which - — age he made his first exc ursion into water colour a drawing of a swan sailing on blue water to the accompaniment of green water reeds . P - As his palette consisted of russian blue , chrome , and brown , the result is not difficult to imagine . - A year later he made his first water colour from nature , with the knowledge acquired in reading a Winsor and Newton primer. It did not help him very far , and his first insight into colour and method came from the careful perusal of an article by Hume Nisbet , pub " ' " lished in the Boys Own Paper . Nisbet advised the creation of a f prism by stratifying three washes o blue , yellow and red and upon i this base , when dry , superimposing the drawing . Th s method , - largely used by the early English Water colourists , created a ground that was romantic to work upon , and helped the sense of unity , but like all recipes left its impress of monotony . He y s e n had been apprenticed to an ironmonger when he left school , and the only time he had for painting was on Sundays " " and holidays . He u sed to prepare his swag overnight so as to be up before dawn and away into the bush at the earliest moment , keen to miss no hour of painting light . Until he was twenty this was his invariable procedure , though he had left the ironmongery at the age of sixteen , and joined his father to help in carrying farm and dairy produce . Driving in the open country was p leasanter than work in town , and if he could not sit down and paint it , he was able to observe the landscape , and familiarise his eye with t- the changes of the sky , and the different ligh effects of weather and the seasons . His first sales were made through the agency of a friendly tobacconist , who hung up some of his sketches in the shaving saloon . c Customers , attra ted by the little pictures , bought them for sums varying from ten shillings to a pound "and one , a picture dealer , noting their popularity , approached the young artist and paid him £5 for thirteen . These he framed and sold so profitably that ' later he entered into a six months agreement with Hey se n by which - the latter was to supply six water colours a week or two oils , 24 lBin . i £2 5 3 . x , receiv ng in return a salary of 1 per week . THE ART or HANS HEYSEN. 5 ' - s Mr. R. One of He yse n first appreciators was Barr Smith , who to his purchase of four water-colours added the payment of a ' year s tuition at the School of Design , Adelaide , under H . P . Gill . As He y s e n was working for a living during the day , he was able to draw only at night , but he learnt something from his teacher , ' - who possessed a well balanced mind and a wide interest in art . Gill s -of- own work was rather matter fact , but his technique was sound and direct , and he was an honest draughtsman . He y se n worked hard for the dealer , who profited so well when he auctioned his collection that he must have felt financially wounded - when four public spirited gentlemen , struck by the remarkable promise of the work , put their heads together and sent He y se n to Europe to study . These patrons , whose example might well be Mr . followed in the interests of art and artists , were A L Davids on , Mr . Mr . R . d J A Joyner , De ose and Dr H H Wigg They furnishe He y s e n with £400 and left him full discretion to study where he wished . He was to send them all finished works and retain his studies . 1899 P Away he went in to aris , following the grand convention ' of youth in art , and started to work at Julien s Academy under Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant . Later he shifted to the Beaux ' o s Arts to work under Bonnat , drawing at night at C la ros i s where In Prenet , Colin and Tournes criticised in turn . the classes he never painted but drew hard all the time , reserving for the summer vacations the pleasure of indulgence in colour . Fo r P the first three winters he worked in aris , spent his first summer in Holland , his second and third in Scotland . The whole of the fourth year he passed in Italy , drawing in the Art Schools at F - lorence , and travelling about , knapsack on back , foot slogging like — a true vagabond when the road called him seeing Venice and Siena , Rome a nd Naples . ' His drawings of Italian towns remind me of Turner s . They have the same clear and expressive line , the same accumulation of crowded buildings upon noble hills . I remember his Venetian - water colours exhibited in his first Melbourne show , and when I remarked to him on this resemblance— particularly in the soft white domes , he told me that he could not get Turner out of his head all the time he spent in Venice . He wilfully Turn e ris e d the Eternal City .