The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.
Tom Roberts had a profound influence on Australian art. An organiser of the 1899 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition in Melbourne, he promoted the principles of Impressionism and painting en plein air (outdoors). He also advocated for quintessentially Australian subject matter, as seen in his famous landscape paintings such as Shearing the rams and A break away. However, portraiture was also an important part of his practice. This portrait of lawyer and judge Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow (1842–1908), the third Chief Justice of Western Australia, is thought to be a study for a larger, more formal commissioned work that seems never to have eventuated. It was painted in 1896, the year in which Roberts commenced work on a series of informal portraits of significant figures in Australian society, exhibited as ‘Familiar faces and figures’.
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2006
L Gordon Darling AC CMG (38 portraits supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Sarah Engledow is seduced by the portraits and the connections between the artists and their subjects in the exhibition Impressions: Painting light and life.
Dr. Sarah Engledow discovers the amazing life of Ms. Hilda Spong, little remembered star of the stage, who was captured in a portrait by Tom Roberts.
The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.
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The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.
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