Portraitist Howard Barron’s commissions included Sir Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II and Dame Nellie Melba. This portrait of operatic soprano Florence Austral (1892–1968) was likely painted when the diva toured Australia in 1930. Barron’s portrait presents a clear statement about Austral’s success, portraying her as a confident woman in a theatrical pose.
Born Florence Wilson, she studied at the Conservatorium of Music and the University of Melbourne. On arriving in London, she, like her compatriot Nellie Melba, adopted a name honouring her homeland and as ‘Florence Austral’ debuted in the role of Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre at Covent Garden in 1922. During the 1920s and 1930s she toured North America and Australia and made the first of many recordings. The quality and power of her voice lent itself to the Wagnerian roles that secured her reputation, but she also performed in operas by Verdi, Mozart and Puccini. By the end of the 1930s, Austral was increasingly afflicted with multiple sclerosis. With her husband, flautist John Amadio, she returned to Australia after the war and took up a teaching position at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music in Newcastle.
Gift of the University of Newcastle (Australia) 2007
© Estate of Howard Barron
The University of Newcastle (1 portrait)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Spanning the 1880s to the 1930s, this collection display celebrates the innovations in art – and life – introduced by the generation of Australians who travelled to London and Paris for experience and inspiration in the decades either side of 1900.
