Collection Online
An easterly breeze

An easterly breeze
1887

Medium
oil on canvas

Measurements
107.7 × 183.5 cm

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1887

Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International

Download
 

About this work

From 1872 onwards Peter Graham began to exhibit large pictures of storm-lashed northern cliffs and seabirds. Reviewing this painting in 1872, the Art Journal remarked upon how: ‘In “An Easterly Breeze” ... Mr Peter Graham is quite at his best; he has done well to leave Highland cattle, for a while at least, in favour of the “deep bosom of the ocean” and its “dark unfathomed caves!”’

Artwork Details

Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.r.: Peter Graham / 1887

Accession Number
p.312.2-1

Department
International Painting

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited

Subjects (general)
Marines and Seascapes

Subjects (specific)
bird (animal) boats cliffs coastal landscapes oceans rock (inorganic material) sailing waves (natural events)

Provenance
Acquired from the artist by James Graham (former MLC), Melbourne, and, by whom donated to the National Gallery of Victoria, 1889.

Exhibited Royal Academy, London, 1889, no. 279; Second Interchange Exhibition, Adelaide, 1896, cat. p. 27 (repr.); lent State Centenary Celebrations, Perth 1928–30.


Frame

Though there is no label on this frame it is comparable to the W. A. Smith frame on Halsewelle’s Heart of the Coolins, Isle of Skye.
A similar frame is found on Peter Graham’s After the Massacre of Glencoe (p.315.1-1) and a variant on William Hatherell The baliffs daughter of Islington (4308-3).

The painting was cleaned in 2005.

Frame Details

Framemaker
Unknown - 19th century

Date
c.1887

Frame Condition

good original condition