DOI Artikel:
Wood, T. Martin: The national gallery, Melbourne, and the Felton Bequest
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21214#0240
The National Gallery, Melbourne, and the Felton Bequest
“ LES MEULES DE PAILLE, EFFET DU MATIN”
BY ALFRED SISLEY
Admiral of the White. Dying in 1815, he must
have played a part in the stirring events of the end
of the eighteenth century, though his name has
not come down to us among the Empire-makers
of the time.
A painting which the present writer knows only
from reproduction is that of Miss Theophila
Palmer by Reynolds. There are several versions of
this lady, and she has been identified as the model
of several of Reynolds’ subject pictures. She was
the painter’s niece, his favourite and companion.
But such was the proverbial coldness of his nature,
or such was the extreme of his distaste for letter-
writing, that when “ Offy,” as she was called,
married, no letter of congratulation was forth-
coming from her uncle, until the great Burke, a
staunch admirer, stood over the painter and dictated
one to send her with his own. The picture of
Miss Palmer was purchased from the collection of
the late Lord Currie by Sir William Bennett, who
had long desired to possess it.
When we come to decorative and figure subjects
among the modern works acquired under the
Felton Bequest, perhaps the two most notable
234
are The Wheel of Fortune by Burne-Jones, and
L'Hiver by Puvis de Chavannes. The Wheel of
Fortune was the first picture of that title painted by
Burne-Jones. He painted later an enlarged replica
which is in the collection of the Right Hon. A. J.
Balfour. Puvis de Chavannes exhibited L’Hiver
in the Salon in the nineties. This picture led to
the French government commissioning the fresco
which is a replica of it for the decoration of the
Hotel de Ville. On the advice of the Director of
the Melbourne Gallery a characteristic flower-piece
by Fantin-Latour was purchased from the Anglo-
Australian Exhibition at Melbourne in 1892. To
this was added in 1909 La Source, one of those
delicate idyls with the theme of the nude which
expressed another side of Fantin’s talent. At the
same time Cazin’s Rainbow was added to the
collection. Cazin sent his first picture to the
Salon from England, where he resided for many
years at the beginning of his career. It was not
until 1883 that he abandoned the painting of
historical and scriptural subjects to devote himself
to landscape in a style that was profoundly personal.
The Annunciation to the Shepherds by Bastien
“ LES MEULES DE PAILLE, EFFET DU MATIN”
BY ALFRED SISLEY
Admiral of the White. Dying in 1815, he must
have played a part in the stirring events of the end
of the eighteenth century, though his name has
not come down to us among the Empire-makers
of the time.
A painting which the present writer knows only
from reproduction is that of Miss Theophila
Palmer by Reynolds. There are several versions of
this lady, and she has been identified as the model
of several of Reynolds’ subject pictures. She was
the painter’s niece, his favourite and companion.
But such was the proverbial coldness of his nature,
or such was the extreme of his distaste for letter-
writing, that when “ Offy,” as she was called,
married, no letter of congratulation was forth-
coming from her uncle, until the great Burke, a
staunch admirer, stood over the painter and dictated
one to send her with his own. The picture of
Miss Palmer was purchased from the collection of
the late Lord Currie by Sir William Bennett, who
had long desired to possess it.
When we come to decorative and figure subjects
among the modern works acquired under the
Felton Bequest, perhaps the two most notable
234
are The Wheel of Fortune by Burne-Jones, and
L'Hiver by Puvis de Chavannes. The Wheel of
Fortune was the first picture of that title painted by
Burne-Jones. He painted later an enlarged replica
which is in the collection of the Right Hon. A. J.
Balfour. Puvis de Chavannes exhibited L’Hiver
in the Salon in the nineties. This picture led to
the French government commissioning the fresco
which is a replica of it for the decoration of the
Hotel de Ville. On the advice of the Director of
the Melbourne Gallery a characteristic flower-piece
by Fantin-Latour was purchased from the Anglo-
Australian Exhibition at Melbourne in 1892. To
this was added in 1909 La Source, one of those
delicate idyls with the theme of the nude which
expressed another side of Fantin’s talent. At the
same time Cazin’s Rainbow was added to the
collection. Cazin sent his first picture to the
Salon from England, where he resided for many
years at the beginning of his career. It was not
until 1883 that he abandoned the painting of
historical and scriptural subjects to devote himself
to landscape in a style that was profoundly personal.
The Annunciation to the Shepherds by Bastien