Terms and conditions of use
Dr Will Maloney
1887
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 48.5 × 37.0 cm
- Inscription
- inscribed in grey paint l.l.: AMITE / JULY 1887 / WILL MALONEY MEDICUS JULY 1887 / J P RUSSELL PICTOR PARIS
- Accession Number
- 1242-4
- Department
- Australian Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1943
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
Australian medical student William Maloney was a friend of Russell and Tom Roberts in London in the early 1880s. This work was a gift to Maloney on his return to Australia in 1887, and Russell may have hoped that Roberts, back in Melbourne, would see it as a demonstration of Russell’s new Impressionist technique. In the background is an East Asian scroll, indicative of Russell’s admiration of Japanese art at this time.
- Subjects (general)
- Law, Civics and Protest Portraits
- Subjects (specific)
- half figures Maloney, William Robert members of Parliament men (male humans) moustaches physicians
- Movements
- Australian Impressionism Impressionism
- Frame
- Not original, mid 20th century
Frame
-
-
Framing the paintings by John Russell had been on the agenda for a number of years.
John Russell’s portrait of Dr Will Maloney was painted in Paris in 1887. It entered the collection as a purchase in 1943.
The decision to reframe the painting came in preparation for the exhibition, Australian Impressionists in France in 2013.
The former framing, which is thought to be the frame in which it came into the collection, was a simplified profile that could be found on paintings from the first half of the twentieth century.
The work is situated in a period in which Russell had established himself in Paris having completed his training with both Legros and Cormond.
The framing used around this time is varied and draws upon the Louis XIV revival gallery frames that appear on paintings by artists such as Monet in exhibitions at the Petit Gallery and simpler artist designed and made frames that the early Impressionists were experimenting with.
The frame prototype for Dr Will Maloney is based on the passé partout frame with a reeded back edge that was designed by Edgar Degas.
The choice of this frame style was a little more ambiguous than other re-framing work undertaken as part of this project however it draws upon an original prototype from an early Impressionist artist who used this moulding as a framing style.
The frame was made in the studio of Frames and Furniture at the NGV.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2013. - Framemaker
- Reproduction - crafted by the NGV
- Date
- 2013
- Materials
-
Timber profile and gold leaf