Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba poses in what is commonly referred to as the ‘three-quarter’ view, with her face turned halfway between front and profile. This approach to portraiture was first used by Flemish painters in the 1430s and emerged at a time when there was growing interest in the representation of individual character.
Turned at an angle to the viewer, Melba fixes her gaze into the distance. Her vaguely painted features and polite smile reveal little of the diva’s famously theatrical personality.
What words would you use to describe Nellie Melba’s pose and expression?
Melba’s high collar and flamboyant headdress accurately portray the fashions of the period. At this time, the hat was an important status symbol in society and ‘respectable’ women were rarely seen in public without one.
What does Melba’s dress reveal about her social status and wealth?
The closely cropped portrait of Melba was made in Ramsay’s cold and damp Paris studio, though the artist provides no detail of this in the background.
If you could add your own background to the portrait, what would it be?
The artist uses colour to create a certain atmosphere in his portrait of Melba.
How would you describe the colours in Ramsay’s portrait?
What kind of atmosphere has the artist created?
See a self portrait of the artist in his Paris studio in the National Portrait Gallery collection.
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About the artist
Hugh Ramsay was born in Scotland in 1877 and migrated to Melbourne with his family when he was a year old.
After studying at the National Gallery School, Ramsay travelled to Paris where he shared a studio with Nellie Melba’s relative, Ambrose Patterson. The artist said he was nervous and ‘a bit flabbergasted’ by the experience of meeting the famous diva and completed the portrait in 30 minutes.
When Ramsay fell ill with tuberculosis, Melba funded the artist’s return to Australia. In Melbourne, she staged a solo exhibition of 38 of his works at her Toorak home, the only solo exhibition of his works during his lifetime.
Ramsay died at Clydebank on 5 March 1906, aged 28.