(View of the Yarra River towards Richmond from below McCubbin’s House, Kensington Road)
Frederick McCubbin
Details
- Artist
- Frederick McCubbin
- Title
- (View of the Yarra River towards Richmond from below McCubbin’s House, Kensington Road)
- Year
- 1910
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Size
- 49.5 x 75 cm
- Details
signed lower right:: F McCubbin 1910
(also known as The Pool, Heidelberg)
Provenance
Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 26 July 1989, lot 76, as The Pool, Heidelberg
private collection, Melbourne
Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 1996
private collection, Sydney
Exhibited
A Happy Life: Frederick McCubbin’s Small Paintings & Oil Sketches,
cat. no. 30, as The Pool, Heidelberg, National Gallery of Victoria, touring, 1991-1992, City of Ballarat Fine Art Gallery; City of Hamilton Art Gallery; Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; Benalla Art Gallery; Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre, Mornington; La Trobe Valley Arts Centre, Morwell until 31 October 1992
19th & 20th Century Australian Painting Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 1 May-7 June 1996, cat. no. 10, as (View of the Yarra River towards Richmond from below McCubbin’s House, Kensington Road), 1910
40 Australian Paintings for Sale, Savill Galleries, Sydney, March 2016, cat. no. 17, as The Pool, Heidelberg
Literature
Clark, J., A Happy Life: Frederick McCubbin’s Small Paintings & Oil Sketches, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1991, pp. 6, 20 & illus. p. 22
Further Information
(View of the Yarra River towards Richmond from below McCubbin’s House, Kensington Road) 1910, is where McCubbin achieved a singular harmony between the enchanting distant view and captivating intimacy of the foreground by engaging the Corotesque touch of the framing device of trees. Viewed from a high vantage point, the river bend and city beyond is enveloped in an atmosphere that excites the imagination and invites the viewer to be drawn into a spectacle of wondrous delight. The painting has that effervescence one usually associates with J. M. W. Turner’s pictures of Venice and the sparkle of light on water. As the master of the intimate in the Australian landscape, McCubbin carried this sparkle into the foreground foliage, tree trunks and bush through the deft application of paint with brilliant strokes of the brush and palette knife. The painting becomes a visual translation of joy celebrating the promised land, the loved place where he lived and in all its dreamlike beauty.
David Thomas
To view the full catalogue essay click here