Arthur Streeton
Autumn (also known as "Eaglemont")
Athur Streeton, one of the founding members of the Heidleberg
School of painters, is probably best known for his panoramic vistas
of the Australian landscape. Also known as Eaglemont, because
of the artists' inscription on the lower left, this work was
exhibited under the title of Autumn in the May exhibition of
Victorian Artists' Society in 1889. At some stage
before its acquisition in 1948, the image was cut into two smaller
scenes, but the decision to make two paintings out of one appears
to have been reversed.
Autumn is one of Streeton's early works and one of the few
paintings by him that features a woman at work. The artist,
who acknowledged that both painting and poetry were inspired by the
landscape and sometimes titled his paintings after works by his
favourite poets, probably named the painting after Keats' ode 'To
Autumn'.
Although described in the Argus 4 May 1889, p12 as "An orchard
so vague and formless as to present nothing but rude
suggestions of things in lieu of definite outline and
accurate drawing," it was also recognised as having "a sense of
space and a feeling of heat".