Summer afternoon, Templestowe
oil on canvas
76.6cm x 118.9cm height x width
Accession no. p.300.5-1
Purchased, 1869
A critic writing for the Melbourne Argus in September 1879 commented:
Buvelot has revealed all sorts of previously unnoticed beauties
in our indigenous timber and foliage and has caused us to look upon our sylvan
scenery with something like a new sense of vision.
Historical Context
Louis Buvelot arrived in Australia in 1865 at the height of the Melbourne boom.
Since 1850, when the Separation Bill was passed and Victoria was governed
independently from the colony of NSW, there had been measurable progress.
The population had increased in Victoria from 80,000 to 600,000 and revenue
from £750,000 to £3,000,000. In 1851, 60,000 acres had been cultivated and by
1864 this had increased to 500,000 acres. Three hundred miles of railway linked
Victoria and 1,200 churches had been built from an original 39.
The discovery of gold in Victoria added further to an era of prosperity and economic expansion.
Summer afternoon 1866 was made after a study and completed in the studio.
A glance at the sketch reveals that
Summer afternoon 1866 is not topographical and Buvelot took liberties as an interpreter.
Unlike photography, for the painter nature is converted according to the laws of art.
Actual visual experience has been modified.
'By the 1860's fewer and fewer sheep were stirring up the dust along the Templestowe
and Heidelberg roads. The thickly wooded country of which the 1848 traveller wrote
was falling to the wood-cutter's axe as the land was cleared and sheep grazing in the
Yarra Valley yielded to market gardening and the establishment of orchards.' (1).
'Buvelot's paysage intime (intimate landscape) was an appropriate expression
of the colonist's growing acceptance of their environment as no longer alien and
antagonistic but their proper home, familiarly "Australian" rather than discomfortingly
non-European. Buvelot's Australian landscape painting acted as a catalyst in
reconciling Victoria's settlers to their environment.' (2). This painting, and a companion
work, Winter morning near Heidelberg were among the first to be purchased
by the National Gallery of Victoria for a sum of £80.
(1) Daniel Thomas (ed.), Creating Australia 200 Years of Art 1788
- 1988, Owen King Printers, Melbourne.
(2) Ibid
Preparatory sketch for the oil painting
Study for 'Summer afternoon, Templestowe'
charcoal
38.1 x 54.3 cm (image and sheet)
Bequest of Allan R. Henderson 1956
Background
By the time Buvelot arrived in Melbourne at the age of fifty-one he was already an
experienced and mature artist. He had trained as an artist in Switzerland and for
a short time in Paris. Buvelot was not only a versatile painter but also a practised
lithographer and photographer. During the 1870s his reputation as an artist rose
and his vision of the landscape inspired the young artists Tom Roberts and Frederick
McCubbin, who considered him the 'father of Australian landscape painting'.
Rousseau, a member of the French 'Barbizon' school, possibly influenced Buvelot's art.
Theodore Rousseau
Landscape with clumps of trees c. 1844-52
oil on panel
41.6 x 63.8 cm
Felton Bequest 1955
Influence
Buvelot's attitude to landscape painting in some part was influenced by the art of
his fellow-countryman Barthélémy Menn. Menn had lived in Paris and had been
aquainted with and influenced by the French Barbizon artists Camille Corot, Théodore
Rousseau and Charles Daubigny. It is possible that Buvelot also had some
first-hand knowledge of a landscape by Rousseau shown in Lausanne in 1855.
The Barbizon artists and Menn painted naturalistic landscapes of familiar countryside
as opposed to the previous romantic views of nature.
Technique and Materials
Buvelot's landscape paintings were a result of sketching trips undertaken in and
around Melbourne, although he occasionally travelled further afield,
and was commissioned to do a few homestead paintings in the Western District
of Victoria.
On his trips, pencil sketches were made, together with water-colour and oil sketches,
from which he executed more elaborate charcoal drawings, water-colour and oil
paintings in his Melbourne studio. His painting style was considered broad and even
unfinished when his paintings were first shown in Melbourne. Summer afternoon,
Templestowe was first exhibited at the Intercolonial Exhibition in Melbourne
in 1866, and purchased by the Gallery in the same year.
The Painting
Summer afternoon, Templestowe depicts a rural scene on the outskirts of
Melbourne. The low viewpoint makes us part of the scene as we look along the
dusty road to the oncoming sheep. The horizon line is also low, and contributes
to the openness of the countryside.
The landscape is dotted with human activity, from the drover with his two sheep-dogs
to the various people in conversation. The houses already appear to be old, and add
to the feeling that the countryside is well settled, familiar and commonplace. This is
not the setting for heroic deeds by pioneers, but rather the every-day routine activities
by local farmers. The tall, centrally-located gum-tree, with barren branches exposed,
establishes the scene as Australian.
As the sun sets, the light glows rather than shines on the brown rough vegetation,
although a few patches of green grass defy the sullen heat. The whole atmosphere
is heavy with the lingering heat, but the long weary afternoon is drawing to a close
and the build up of clouds suggests that some relief is in sight.
Considerations
- Complete the visual analysis worksheet using Summer afternoon, Templestowe.
- Compare and contrast the work of Buvelot and von Guerard with reference to
composition, design elements and technique.
- How does this painting reflect the artist's perception of the rural environment?
- Do you think this painting accurately records rural life in 1866?
- Research the French Barbizon artists. What influence did they have on Buvelot's work?
- Compare the technique of paint application seen in this painting with Streeton's
Near Heidelberg, 1890.
- Buvelot was often referred to as the 'father of Australian landscape painting'.
What did he contribute to the development of Australian landscape painting?
Discuss using examples of other artists' work.
