Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
John Longstaff
Gippsland, Sunday night, February 20th, 1898 1898
oil on canvas
144.8 × 198.7 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1898
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Where possible, the image must be reproduced in full (no cropping or over-printing). If you wish to use a detail of the work, a full reproduction of the work must also be reproduced elsewhere in the publication.
While the NGV believes this work to be in the Public Domain, it is the responsibility of the publisher to ensure that no further permissions are required for use.
For a complete list of terms and condition of use see the National Gallery of Victoria’s copyright policy.
Gippsland, Sunday night, February 20th, 1898
1898
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
144.8 × 198.7 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1898
Gallery location
Not on display
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Melbourne, Victoria
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.r.: J Longstaff 98
Accession Number
48-2
Department
Australian Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Subjects (general)
History and Legend Landscapes Nature
Subjects (specific)
bushfire Eucalyptus (genus) fires (events) forests (plant communities) Gippsland (general region) horse (species) men (male humans) women (female humans)
Frame
Reproduction, 2001, based on the remains of the original frame by John Thallon, 1898
Frame
The maker is identified by an entry in Thallon’s ledger for 19 May, 1898: 1 frame 6ft 6 x 4ft, 9 R … the wood with gilt slip, oak finish, £5-6. The entry is accompanied by a small sketch of the frame profile. The simplicity of the joinery of the frame is worth noting in the work of this framer. The original frame was retrieved from the monastery of The Benedictine Community of New Norcia Inc in 2000 and, though too deteriorated to be restored, was able to be used as an accurate model for reconstruction.1
The scale of the frame is bold and no longer commonly seen on paintings from the time.2 Few frames of this type remain on major works. The frame appears in the ledger under Longstaff’s name, suggesting a direct relationship between the painter, the painting and the frame – a relationship that became apparent when the painting was returned to the original frame format. The frame allows the painting a level of grandeur, while focusing attention on the drama of the subject. As with Arthur Streeton’s ‘The purple noon’s transparent might’ (33-2), Longstaff’s Gippsland, Sunday night, February 20th,1898 had been reframed in a ‘Whistlerian’ frame around 1941.
Notes
1 The reproduction frame was made with extraordinary attention to the detail of the original construction and finish by Mathew Adams and Louise Poon within the studio of Frames and Furniture Conservation of the NGV in 2002.
2 The painting appears in this frame in the background of a photograph of Circe by Bertram MacKennal on p. 97 of the Illustrated Catalogue of the National Gallery of Victoria, 1911.
Frame Details
Framemaker
Reproduction - crafted by the NGV
Date
2002 based on a Thallon frame from 1898
Materials
The reproduction frame is made from Western red cedar, oak veneer (fumed and stained), with a gilded slip.
The original frame is made from a wide plank of softwood joined at an angle to an outer section made up from the lamination of two boards. The wide flat and the leading edge of the outer section are veneered with a very thin layer of white oak, which is interleaved with a layer of paper. The angled flat was glued and skew-nailed into the outer section before the veneer was attached. This is a method of construction which, on the one hand, is simple and economical and, on the other, implies certain difficulties in the process. Clearly it would be simpler to veneer the flat sections before cutting and fitting the frame together. The intersection of the flat section and the outer section is supported with blocks glued in place. The slip is similarly supported with blocks at the rebate. The slip is missing from what we have left of the frame but from old photographs it appears that it was a gilded surface. The veneered section appears to be stained.
Frame Condition
The original frame has been cut down and has suffered considerable water damage to the veneer, leaving it too compromised in condition to be restored. It nevertheless offers reliable evidence of both the form and the finish of the reproduction frame.
Dimensions
202.5 x 255.0 x 11.5 cm; sight 141.5 x 194.0