MOUNT MACEDON FROM A POINT BETWEEN ST KILDA AND BRIGHTON, 1857

Important Australian + International Fine Art
Melbourne
29 August 2007
45

EUGENE VON GUERARD

(1811 - 1901)
MOUNT MACEDON FROM A POINT BETWEEN ST KILDA AND BRIGHTON, 1857

oil on paper on board

23.5 x 34.3 cm

signed, dated and inscribed lower centre: Eugen de Guérard Melbourne 1857

Estimate: 
$100,000 - 140,000
Sold for $114,000 (inc. BP) in Auction 2 - 29 August 2007, Melbourne
Provenance

Probably Mr. J. W. Collings, Melbourne
Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 20 April 1972, lot 401, cat.65 (illus.) as'Melbourne'
Clune Galleries, Sydney, 1972
Mr Sweeney Reed, Melbourne, 1979
Private collection, Melbourne

Exhibited

Probably Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria Loan Exhibition of Antiques, Melbourne, 1932, cat.1413, as 'Melbourne with a view of the bay and Mt Macedon in the distance', lent by J.W. Collings
Eugen Von Guerard At Clune Galleries, Sydney, October 1972, cat.6, as 'Melbourne' 1857 (illus.)
The Artist's Journey: Discovering the Victorian Coastline 1840-1910, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria, 14 December 2003 - 22 February 2004 (label attached verso)

Literature

Bruce, C., Comstock, E., & McDonald, F., Eugene von Guerard 1811-1901: A German Romantic in the Antipodes, Alister Taylor Publishers, Martinborough, New Zealand, 1982, cat.33, pp.197-98 (illus.)

Catalogue text

After sixteen months on the goldfields of Ballarat, Eugène von Guerard' settled in Melbourne seeking to establish himself in the field for which he had been trained - art. Sketches made in Ballarat were turned into paintings of lucky diggers, natives hunting, followed by landscapes of his travels in Victoria With few exceptions, his interest was in the wondrous creations of nature, landscapes of the sublime, rather than the mere works of man and his urban habitats. Early subjects of Melbourne were similarly inclined - View Near St. Kilda, 1854 and Melbourne, 1854, the latter sharing its panoramic view of Port Phillip Bay and distant hills with Mount Macedon from a Point Between St Kilda and Brighton, 1857. Views of the city did not incline towards the magnificent, whereas the Bay was a magnet for Victorian artists. Von Guerard was one of the first to draw attention to its scenic beauties, allied to his belief in the insignificance of man in the presence of the grandeur of nature.

Our painting is one of Von Guerard's earliest views of Melbourne. Although there are three known oils with Melbourne associations inscribed '1854', it did not always follow that the date on his painting was the date in which it was actually executed. A View near St Kilda, for example, is dated 1854; yet it was probably painted much later, given that it was first exhibited 1861. Moreover, as pointed out by Candice Bruce: 'The interval between the date of the painting and its exhibition may possibly be explained by the artist's occasional practice of dating works at the time depicted rather than at the time of completion.'2 This is supported by the advertisement Von Guerard placed in The Argus on the last day of December 1854, advising of the sale by lottery of 'his collection of oil paintings'. A View of St Kilda was not among those listed.3 Perhaps there is some significance in the three being much the same size. Possibly they were painted as a group, retaining the dates of the pencil sketches on which they were based. The unifying motif is the Bay. The sea in all its moods, even the placid waters of the Port Phillip, exercised a strong romantic appeal for Von Guerard.

1. Von Guerard's full baptismal name was 'Johann Joseph Eugen von Guerard', and he, like many artists, chose to sign his work in a variety of ways, including 'Eugen von Guerard', 'Eugène von Guerard' and 'Eugen de Guerard' as on this painting. His most frequent usage was the abbreviated form of 'Eug. von Guerard'. In his first years in Australia he used 'de Guerard' more frequently. See Bruce, op.cit., p.174
2. Bruce, op.cit., p.183
3. The Argus, 30 December 1854, p.8

DAVID THOMAS