Golden Summer, Eaglemont
 | |
| Artist | Arthur Streeton |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 81.3 cm × 152.6 cm (32.01 in × 60.08 in in) |
| Location | National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
Golden Summer, Eaglemont is an 1889 painting by the Australian artist Arthur Streeton. Painted during a summer drought, it is an idyllic depiction of undulating plains in rural Heidelberg on the outskirts of Melbourne. It is one of Streeton's most famous works and is considered a masterpiece of Australian Impressionism.
It was the first painting by an Australian-born artist to be exhibited at both the Royal Academy in London, in 1890, and the Paris Salon the following year.
Ahead of its auction in 1924, Lionel Lindsay extolled the work in the hope that it would enter a public gallery:[1]
This tranquil landscape, so simply yet so exquisitely fashioned, possesses for Australians a sentiment no other people may equally enjoy. It is the first great Australian landscape, untrammeled by picture making formula, to come from the hand of the native born. It is, therefore, historically the most important landscape in Australia.
It was acquired by a private collector for 1,000 guineas, then a record for a painting by an Australian artist. It broke the same record in 1995 when it was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for $3.5 million.
References
- ↑ Lindsay, Lionel (28 November 1923). "Golden Summer: Streeton's Masterpiece", Evening News. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
External links
Golden summer, Eaglemont at the National Gallery of Australia