Tom Roberts
(England, Australia 08 Mar 1856–14 Sep 1931)
Bailed up
- Other titles:
- Bailed Up, Bail up, The Hold Up, Sticking up the Mail Coach, Bailed-up, Bailed Up!
- Location
- 19th c Australian art
- Further information
Tom Roberts conceived the idea of a bushranger picture while he was staying at Inverell in northern NSW. He painted 'Bailed up' largely en plein air. It tells as much of the qualities of the local landscape as of its staged drama. Roberts superbly captures the summer heat conditions, which render to stillness the dramatic circumstances of a Cobb & Co hold up. The scene was painted from a purpose-built platform in a stringy bark tree, giving the work its high vantage point. Roberts modelled the figures on Inverell townspeople, including stagecoach driver 'Silent Bob Bates' who had been held up by local bushranger 'Captain Thunderbolt' three decades earlier.
- Place of origin
-
Inverell,
New South Wales,
Australia
- Year
- 1895
1927 - Media
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 134.5 x 182.8cm stretcher; 158.0 x 206.5 x 12.0cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.l. corner, brown/red oil "Tom Roberts/ 95=/27".
- Credit
- Purchased 1933
- Accession number
- 833
