WALTER WITHERS

Having lived in Kew, Heidelberg and Creswick in the 1880s and 1890s, Walter Withers finally relocated to Eltham in 1903, where 'he built for himself a charming Studio, the windows of which open[ed] on a bit of Virgin Bush, where stand stately white gums of great beauty...'¹  In later life hear disease and rheumatism increasingly restricted his movements, but beyond the edges of Melbourne's rapidly-spreading suburbs he could have a painter's landscape at his doorstep.

The present work dates from this final period of the artist's life, with the viiew probably representing a scene in the Eltham/Warrandyte area, possibly the local property Orr's Park, a favourite sketching group for the artist.  It captures the summer colours of the Yarra River/Diamond Creek countryside, as described by the artist in a letter to his daughter Gladys: 'The drought is very severe but the country looks very beautiful, in its... garb of blue and gold; though it is a trifle awkward to be short of water.'²

The painting is either a quick impression, a deliberately brief Whistlerian sketch, or a late and unfinished painting.  The cascade of soft brush-strokes on the left, the passage of bare canvas and the broad, flat areas of yellow, sunbleached grass suggest the latter.  The 'M' beneath the signature indicates that the work was signed (after her father's death) by Margery, Wither's second daughter.

1. Fanny Withers, the artist's wife, quoted in Andrew Mackenzie and Kathleen Mangan (eds.), Walter Withers: The Forgotten Manuscripts, Mannagum Press, Melbourne, 1987, p. 27
2. Walter Withers, quoted ibid, p. 28