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The exhibition Victorian Visions presents
an impressive collection of some 45 paintings, watercolours, drawings and
sculptures by some of the luminaries of Victorian art, including works by
Rossetti, Holman Hunt, Burne-Jones, Leighton, Poynter, Watts and
Waterhouse.
The collection has been assembled by John Schaeffer,
Australia’s most passionate and highly respected collector of 19th century
European art. The exhibition is on display at the Art Gallery of New South
Wales from 20 May to 29 August 2010. This is the first time that many of
these works have been seen in Australia.
Many of the works of art are
superb examples from these significant artists. For example, the
impressive 2.6-metre tall painting Mariamne by J W Waterhouse that
recently featured so prominently in the Waterhouse exhibition at the Royal
Academy, London; Holman Hunt’s Il dolce far niente, recently in
the Holman Hunt exhibition in Manchester and Toronto; Richard Redgrave’s
The sempstress, one of the most important and most discussed early
Victorian social realist images; and Leighton’s Athlete struggling
with a python, long recognised as the seminal work in British new
sculpture.
The Schaeffer Collection complements the Art Gallery of NSW
collection expanding our experience of Victorian art in its various movements,
including social realism, medievalism, pre-Raphaelitism, neo-classicism,
aestheticism, and symbolism. While the Gallery holds one of the richest
collections of Victorian art in the world, many important artists either
unrepresented or poorly represented in Sydney are now visible in the Schaeffer
collection, for example, major works by Daniel Maclise, James Collinson,
Frederick Sandys, Thomas Faed, Frank Dicksee and E R Hughes.
The
prosperity of the Victorian era (1837-1901) transformed the British art world,
creating a community of artists who were free to create paintings that depicted
powerful stories from ancient history and contemporary life with a new richness
of colour and wealth of detail. For example, Waterhouse’s painting
Mariamne depicts the tragic story of the young wife of King Herod, who
is leaving his throne room after being sentenced to death based on false
accusations of infidelity. Frank Dicksee’s Chivalry is an iconic
image of medieval gallantry as a knight in armour has slain his evil rival to
rescue a classic damsel in distress. While Thomas Faed’s painting Worn
out shows the weary carpenter who has been sitting all night at the bedside
of his sick child and who finally falls asleep as the dawn rises.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue
and a range of programs including two lecture series organised by the Art
Gallery Society of NSW.
The first,
entitled Victorian Visions explores the works in the John Schaeffer
Collection, and also presents new perspectives on the gallery’s
collection. Dr Richard Beresford, curator of the exhibition presents 6
mid-week lectures discussing Visions of Poverty, Women, the Past, Literature,
Faith and Sculpture. Begins 7 April 2010. Full
program.
The Pre-Raphaelites and Great
Literature is the second lecture series associated with the exhibition.
Susannah Fullerton presents 5 Thursday morning lectures examining the literary
side to the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The stories behind the paintings, the
inspirations and controversies, the lives and loves of these remarkable artists
featured in the exhibition will be told. Begins 3 June 2010.
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