Australian Colonial Portraits

In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, portraits were a way for upper-class colonial figures such as politicians, socialites, and land and business owners to have their likenesses preserved. In Melbourne, like most colonial cities at the time, resourceful artists opened studios dedicated solely to portrait painting; however, by the late nineteenth century painting had been usurped by portrait photography due to its ability to capture the true likeness of a person.

This exhibition featured seventy portraits of prominent colonial figures painted between 1814 and 1864.