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Section 3 The Progress of Art

Eugene Von Guerard, 1811-1901
James Glass's Station on the Goulburn River, Victoria 1862

oil on academy board; 35.7 x 45.8 cm
Rex Nan Kivell Collection; NK2165 T481
National Library of Australia

 

Seduced by tales of gold, Viennese-born von Guerard found himself in Ballarat in 1852. Having no success prospecting, he began, from the mid-1850s, to accept commissions to paint the homestead properties of pioneer settlers. The best-known examples of these works, Bushy Park and Koort Koort Nong are also in the Nan Kivell Collection. These paintings capture the successes of the European colonists but also offer reminders of the indigenous people displaced in the process.

In 1870 he was appointed master of painting at the National School of Art, Melbourne. The epitome of the cultured gentleman, von Guerard was fluent in four languages and was regarded as an ornament to Melbourne society.

 

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