Paintings & Drawings

  • # 33562

    BRACK, John (1920-1999)

    Standing Nude, 1980

    Conte on paper, 73 x 52 cm, signed and dated lower right ‘John Brack 1980’, framed. Widely considered to be one of Australia’s great intellectual painters of the twentieth century, John Brack completed a number of critically acclaimed series of the female nude, which ‘remained his touchstone with one of the great traditions of art, a testing …

  • # 44072

    JACKS, Robert (1943 - 2014)

    Rhythmic resonance 2002

    Painted in Harcourt. Oil on canvas, 1530 x 910 mm, signed, titled and dated verso. A fine major oil painting by the great Australian abstract artist Robert Jacks, sourced directly from the artist’s estate. In 2014 the National Gallery of Victoria staged a major retrospective of the artist’s oeuvre. ‘This exhibition represents the first large-scale …

  • # 43243

    BALCOMBE, Emma Juana (1823-1907)

    Commonplace album of Emma Juana Balcombe (Reid), of “The Briars”, Mornington, Victoria. 1860s-80s.

    Quarto (290 x 240 mm), lacking the upper board, but retaining the original elaborately tooled leather lower board and backstrip; approximately [70] leaves of paper in a variety of colours, containing more than 30 original pencil sketches and watercolour drawings by amateur artist Emma Juana Balcombe (Mrs Alexander Beatson Balcombe), including studies of native flowers, …

  • # 45968

    DRENDEL, Graeme (1953 - )

    Self-portrait, 1998

    Gouache on paper, 15 x 19 cm, framed. Over his career Graeme Drendel has painted a number of self-portraits, invariably direct poses where the sitter gazes directly into the viewer’s eyes. Drendel’s portraits are textured and expressive, motionless studies which convey the depth of character of the individual. Provenance: Private collection, Melbourne; ex Australian Galleries (exhibition label …

  • # 45967

    Anon.

    Young’s Wine Catalogue

    Circa 1930. Gouache on board, 235 x 160 mm, mounted on a later backing sheet and framed; fine condition. Original design for a wine merchant’s catalogue.

  • # 45965

    DRYSDALE, Russell (1912 - 1981)

    Sketch of Amah and three Sikhs

    Pen and ink on paper, 190 x 180 mm (image), drawn on notepaper with letterhead of the Ming Court Hotel, Tanglin Road, Singapore (now the Orchard Parade Hotel), elaborately framed in gilt. Probably drawn in Singapore while Drysdale was en route to London. A skilful study of characters to be found in Singapore, possibly working …

  • # 44051

    SWAINSON, William (1789-1855)

    Mount Keera [sic] from Wollongong Rocks, N. S. Wales. 4 June 1852.

    [Title from artist’s caption]. Graphite on paper, 140 x 210 mm, initialed in pencil l.r. ‘W. S.’, with caption in ink beneath ‘Mount Keera [sic] from Wollongong Rocks, N. S. Wales’; dated l.l. in pencil ‘4 June’ and in ink beneath ‘1852’; laid down on card and tipped onto a fully contemporary backing sheet, 275 …

  • # 44055

    SWAINSON, William (1789-1855)

    Nettle Tree, ab[out] 15 f. high. Dapto Bridge, Illawarra, NSW. 29 May 1852.

    [Title from artist’s caption]. Graphite on paper, 155 x 120 mm, captioned by the artist in pencil l.r. ‘Nettle Tree, ab[out] 15 f. high. Dapto Bridge’, and with date and general location l.l. ’29 May 1852 / Illawarra, NSW’; laid down on card and tipped onto a fully contemporary backing sheet, 300 x 240 mm; …

  • # 44057

    SWAINSON, William (1789-1855)

    Cabbage tree palms, [American] Creek, Illawarra. [ca. 1852].

    [Title from artist’s captions]. Graphite on paper, 180 x 130 mm, initialed in ink l.l. ‘W. S.’, and with the artist’s pencilled captions u.l. and u.r. ‘Cabbage’ [i.e. Cabbage tree palm]; laid down on card with the artist’s additional captions in pencil l.l. ‘Illawarra’ and l.r. ‘American Creek’ (the first word is very faint, but …

  • # 44056

    SWAINSON, William (1789-1855)

    Morton [sic] Bay Figtree. Illawarra, 3 June 1852.

    [Title from artist’s caption]. Graphite on paper, 220 x 155 mm, captioned by the artist in pencil l.r. ‘Morton [sic] Bay Figtree’, and with date and general location l.l. ‘3 June 1852 / Illawarra’; laid down on card and tipped onto a fully contemporary backing sheet, 300 x 240 mm; the work has a vertical …

  • # 44054

    SWAINSON, William (1789-1855)

    Silver Bank Gum Tree, ab[out] 300 f. high. (a study). Kangaroo Hollow, Tasmania. 1 February 1854.

    [Title from artist’s caption]. Graphite on paper, 200 x 140 mm, initialed in pencil l.l. ‘W. S.’, with general location and date below ‘Tasmania 1 Feb 1854’; captioned in pencil l.r. ‘Silver Bank Gum Tree ab[out] 300 f. high. Kangaroo Hollow. (A study)’; artist’s numbering in pencil ‘209’; laid down on card and tipped onto …

  • # 35336

    RONJAT, Étienne Antoine Eugène, 1822-1912 (artist)

    Reception of the foreign ministers by the Chinese Emperor, June 29 1873.

    This Emperor, Toong Chir, died last winter of smallpox at the age of twenty. [Title from the inscription verso]. [U.S.A.? France? : s.n., probably 1875]. Albumen print photograph of a drawing by French artist Etienne Ronjat (after a Chinese painting), carte de visite format, 61 x 102 mm; verso with contemporary inscription in ink; both the print …

  • # 43550

    [MacNAUGHTON FAMILY]

    Album with original humorous and satirical drawings and sketches by members of a talented Scottish family, circa 1900.

    Square octavo (180 x 145 mm), original grey cloth over boards (minor staining), the front board embroidered in blue thread ‘Album’; front pastedown with small ownership label of C. J. MacNaughton; containing approx. [30] pages with original drawings by three competent amateur artists, mainly in pen and ink but some in watercolour or pencil, which …

  • # 45114

    ROBINSON, Catharine

    [MAP OF MATRIMONY; AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BIRDS] A late Georgian-era album amicorum belonging to a London lady, with original drawings and poetry dating from 1832 to 1860.

    Quarto (245 x 200 mm), original luxurious binding of full leather elaborately embossed, both boards featuring a central cartouche with a depiction of the Roman goddess Luna in her chariot and holding torch, the spine with the word ‘ALBUM’ in gilt at the head; gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, original endpapers; pictorial title leaf engraved …

  • # 45516

    RUSSELL-CLARKE, Peter (1935 - )

    Australian landscape

    Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 mm, shadowbox frame. Inscribed ‘For Doug / Peter Russell-Clarke’. Painted circa 2005. A miniature landscape painting by the  celebrity chef, artist and author Peter Russell-Clarke. Provenance: Acquired at the artist’s solo exhibition at Delshan Art Gallery, Melbourne, circa 2006, signed and inscribed at the exhibition.

  • # 45328

    COUDERC, Fernand

    Déclaration

    Watercolour on paper, signed lower right ‘FERNAND COUDERC’, 230 x 250 mm; artist’s caption in pencil to lower margin: ‘-Que faites-vous donc, ami? / – Je fais comme l’automne: je déshabille la belle nature!’ (‘What are young doing, my friend?’ ‘I’m doing what autumn does: I’m undressing beautiful nature!’); an editor’s annotation in pencil at …