Rare Tom Roberts painting to go under hammer

One of the finest portraits by the prominent and influential Australian artist Tom Roberts (1856-1931) remaining in private ownership will be among paintings auctioned by Sotheby’s Australia as part of its Important Australian Art sale at the Intercontinental Sydney from 6.30pm on Tuesday May 13.

Most renowned for his pioneering subjects such as Shearing the Rams (1890, National Gallery of Victoria) and A Break Away! (Art Gallery of South Australia), Roberts is regarded as one of Australia’s finest portrait painters.

His charming portrait of Miss Minna Simpson 1886, the young niece of his then girlfriend and later wife, was first displayed at the inaugural exhibition of the Australian Artists’ Association at Buxton’s Gallery, Melbourne, in September 1886.

Roberts had returned to Melbourne the previous year, having travelled to Europe and studied at London’s Royal Academy of Arts – the first major Australian painter to do so.

His learning of anatomy and perspective had been of great benefit. Upon his return he spearheaded the formation of a new school of painting focusing on plein air, with many colleagues including Charles Conder, Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton, learning from Roberts’ international experience.

A founder of the Australian Artists’ Association, Roberts seized the opportunity at the inaugural exhibition to advertise his skills in landscape and genre with five works including The Artists’ Camp (1886, National Gallery of Victoria) A Summer Morning Tiff (1886, Art Gallery of Ballarat) and the present work.

The Sotheby’s auction will include paintings from the highly regarded collections and estates of the late John Kingsmill, Dorothy Braund and Alexander Slutzkin.

Another painting in the Sotheby’s Australia sale is Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly: Kelly and Horse 1955.

Nolan’s compelling image (estimate $300,000-400,000) is a striking portrait of Australia’s most iconic bushranger.

The painting has been in private ownership for nearly 60 years and was acquired by the vendor’s family in 1955 in London.

Ned Kelly: Kelly and Horse is from Nolan’s highly acclaimed second series of Kelly paintings that were created in London during the winter of 1954-1955.

In these images Nolan responded to ancient and contemporary European art and this composition reveals his interest in the marble friezes of classical antiquity. Nolan’s solo exhibition in London in 1955 received critical attention and acclaim

David Sylvester naming Nolan ‘among the half-dozen best painters under forty in the world.’

Examples from this series reside in the numerous public collections, including Tate Britain, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery ofWestern Australia, Perth; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Ned Kelly: Kelly and Horse was purchased by artist Elsa Barker-Mill on the opening night of Nolan’s exhibition at The Redfern Gallery and was included in Nolan’s Retrospective exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 1957.