Down on His Luck
 | |
| Artist | Frederick McCubbin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 114.5 cm × 152.8 cm (45.1 in × 60.2 in) |
| Location | Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth |
Down on His Luck is an 1889 painting by Frederick McCubbin. It depicts a seemingly disheartened swagman, sitting by a campfire sadly brooding over his misfortune. According to an 1889 review, "The face tells of hardships, keen and blighting in their influence, but there is a nonchalant and slightly cynical expression, which proclaims the absence of all self-pity." The background is a forest glade painted in subdued tones of lighter colours.[1]
The artist's model was Louis Abrahams, a successful tobaccanist in Melbourne who earlier supplied the cigar box lids for the 9"X5" paintings and was a friend of the artist. The scene was staged near the Box Hill artists' camp in Victoria, but it is thought that McCubbin would have made additional studies of Abrahams under studio conditions.[1] Given the melancholy subject of the painting it is a sad irony that 14 years after the painting, the model, Louis Abrahams took his own life despite financial prosperity.
The painting was owned by William Fergusson until 1896, when it was purchased by the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth.[1]