Victorian Olympians

The Olympians set out to show the splendour of the Victorian age by painting grand and noble works. They evoked the civilizations of Greece, Rome and Egypt, and created a Victorian classic style. The Victorian Olympians are Lord Leighton, Sir Edward Poynter, George Frederic Watts, Albert Moore, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and a younger generation of followers. They were one of the main English groups after the Pre-Raphaelites. Two of them, Leighton and Poynter, became Presidents of the Royal Academy. From the late 1860s to the end of the century their works aroused great interest at the annual Royal Academy Exhibitions, and their works figure largely in English provincial galleries and in Australian galleries, many of which were founded in that period.

Poynter’s masterpiece The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. An equally large work Israel in Egypt, 312cm long, is being lent by the Guildhall Art Gallery, London. It was a great success at the Royal Academy in 1867. The Guildhall is lending one of Watt’s finest works Ariadne in Naxos.

Albert Moore’s important painting Midsummer is being lent by the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, another fine Moore is coming from Dublin from the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and another from a private collection in New Zealand. Three Alma-Tadema’s are being lent, by a private lender in England, another from a London dealer, and another from the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne. Auckland City Art Gallery is sending four works, and the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, one work.

The remainder of the 44 paintings and 31 drawings came from the galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Ballarat and Bendigo, Armidale Teachers College, and from private lenders in Sydney.

The exhibition has been organized by Mrs. Renee Dree, Curator of European and American Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and has received generous financial assistance from the Visual Arts Board of the Australia.

Sourced from: Press release, 4 August 1975