Sir John Campbell Longstaff
Sir John Campbell Longstaff was one of Australia's most distinguished portrait painters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in 1861 in Clunes, Victoria, he displayed exceptional artistic talent from an early age and commenced studies at the National Gallery School in Melbourne in 1882.
In 1887, Longstaff became the inaugural recipient of the National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Scholarship, enabling him to continue his studies in Paris. During his years in Europe he associated with prominent expatriate artists, including John Peter Russell, and exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon and the Royal Academy in London. Although exposed to French Impressionism, Longstaff maintained a largely academic and realist style throughout his career.
Longstaff established himself as one of Australia's foremost portrait painters, producing portraits of many leading public figures in Australia and Britain, including members of the British royal family, Dame Nellie Melba, military leaders, politicians and prominent businessmen. His reputation for capturing both likeness and character made him one of the most sought-after portraitists of his era.
During the First World War, Longstaff served as an official Australian war artist. Working in France and England in 1918–20, he painted numerous portraits of senior Australian military commanders, including General Sir John Monash, as well as studies documenting the Western Front.
Returning permanently to Melbourne in 1920, Longstaff became a leading figure in Australian artistic life. He served as President of the Victorian Artists' Society, President of the Australian Art Association, and later became the inaugural President of the Australian Academy of Art. He was also appointed a trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria and its associated institutions.
Longstaff achieved exceptional recognition during the 1920s and 1930s, winning the Archibald Prize for portraiture five times (1925, 1928, 1929, 1931 and 1935). In 1928 he became the first Australian-born artist to be knighted for services to art.
His body of work encompasses portraits, historical paintings and landscapes. Among his best-known historical works, both in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria are Arrival of Burke, Wills and King at the deserted camp at Cooper's Creek, completed in 1907, and Gippsland, Sunday Night, February 20th, 1898 which is one of Australia's most well known paintings depicting a bushfire.
Sir John Longstaff died in 1941, aged 80 and is regarded as one of Australia's finest academic painters and portraitists.