Bourke Street (painting)

Bourke Street (Allegro con brio)
Artist Tom Roberts
Year 1886
Type oil on canvas on composition board
Dimensions 51.2 cm × 76.7 cm (20.2 in × 30.2 in)
Location National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Bourke Street is a 1886 painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts. Roberts originally titled the work Allegro con brio.[1] The painting depicts the western end of Bourke Street, one of the main thoroughfares in Melbourne as seen from the Buckley & Nunn drapery.[2]

The work was painted a few months after Roberts' return to Australia in 1885, after he had spent four years in Europe .[2] It was not displayed until 1890, and only five days beforehand, Roberts added three female figures to the lower left.[2][3] Roberts was unable to find a buyer and handed the painting to fellow artist, Frederick McCubbin. In 1920, McCubbin's widow sold the painting to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library for 20 guineas—forwarding the proceeds to Roberts, who was in London at the time.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Bourke Street, Melbourne (picture) / Tom Roberts.". Digital collections. National Library of Australia. http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview?pi=nla.pic-an2268340&fullrecord=yes. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c Spate, Virginia. "Bourke Street (Tom Roberts)". EMelbourne. University of Melbourne. http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00220b.htm. 
  3. ^ a b McQueen, Humphrey. "Allegro con brio, Bourke Street west". http://home.alphalink.com.au/~loge27/roberts/roberts_allegro.htm. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 

External links

Paintings
The Artists Camp (1885) · Wood splitters (1886) · Bourke Street (1886) · Coming South (1886) · The Sunny South (1887) · Slumbering Sea, Mentone (1887) · Shearing the Rams (1890) · A break away! (1891) · The Golden Fleece (1894) · Shearing Shed, Newstead (1894) · In a corner on the Macintyre (1894) · Bailed Up (1895) · The Big Picture (1903) · Country Road Makers (1923) · Washing Day, Kallista (c1923) · Sherbrooke Forest (1924)
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