Arthur Boyd Australian, 1920-1999

H.D. Connolly, Melbourne (inscription on the reverse)

Australian Paintings, Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 28 April 1967, lot 76; purchased by the present owner

Private collection, Melbourne

During the 1950s, Boyd undertook a number of painting excursions throughout Victoria which would provide great inspiration for landscape paintings. Visits to the Wimmera wheatlands and the goldfield districts of western Victoria inspired luminous, high-keyed, landscapes that were immediately acclaimed – and recognised as distinctly modern interpretations of the Heidelberg School tradition. Eaglehawk, near Bendigo, was the site of an intense but comparatively short-lived gold rush in 1852-53. The rush is said to have begun when a local named prospector Joseph Crook found a nugget while searching for some stray horses.  An eaglehawk seen flying near his claim was the origin of the town’s name.

Eaglehawk is an intimate view of the deserted goldfields landscape painted on almost exactly the scale of the Heidelberg group’s famous 9 by 5-inch impressions. The fine details of native grasses and other vegetation in the foreground are depicted with an exquisite grace and delicacy of touch. Boyd’s application of pigment – in some places as sheer and light as watercolour – seems to underscore the shimmering light of the landscape under the warm sun.