Page 53 - Annual Review 2008

RESOuRCES / 53
Through a generous donation, Brisbane gallery director
Philip Bacon made possible the acquisition of Eugene
Von Guérard’s A view from Daylesford towards the
Pyrenees c.1864. Von Guérard is arguably Australia’s
most significant artist of the colonial period. His work
is an essential component of any substantial collection
of Australian art, but until this acquisition von Guérard
had been represented in the Collection by a group of
lithographs only.
Von Guérard came to Australia in 1852 during the gold
rush period and stayed for almost 30 years. He was,
perhaps, the first classically trained painter to work
in Victoria. During this time, he travelled extensively
throughout the state, also visiting Tasmania, South
Australia, New South Wales, and New Zealand.
He made extensive field notes or sketches as he
travelled, and once back in his studio, von Guérard
would rework these into paintings.
The serene interpretation of countryside in A view
from Daylesford towards the Pyrenees shows land
recently explored: the westward thrust into the
wilderness is represented by two diminutive figures in
the foreground; one, presumably, is the artist himself.
In this picturesque, golden panorama, with the morning
sun striking the slopes of Hepburn Hill, von Guérard
suggests a land of opportunity for energetic settlers.
The painting is a fine example of the adaptation of
European landscape painting to the new continent.
EuGENE
VON GUÉRARD
A view from Daylesford towards the Pyrenees c.1864
Eugene von Guérard / A view from Daylesford towards the Pyrenees c.1864 / Oil on canvas /
Purchased 2008 with funds from Philip Bacon, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery
Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
* 1st von Guérard
painting for the collection