Title
Lilium auratum
circa 1909
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Lilies
- Date
- circa 1909
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas, later mounted on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 134.2 x 85.0 cm board; 159.2 x 108.5 x 6.5 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed l.l., brown oil "A. STREETON". Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Mr Frank Rickwood in memory of Justin Robert Rainey (1924-1985) 1995
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 137.1995
- Copyright
- Artist information
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Arthur Streeton
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
This magnificent flower painting was rapidly executed with broad strokes of thin, translucent paint. Two plumes of white flowers with orange speckles and stamens, in a brass Middle Eastern jardiniere, stand out from the deep green background. Remnants of blue sky can just be made out near the lilies on the left, hints of an earlier landscape concealed beneath the showy lilies.
An X-ray has revealed a view of the Gloucester Buckets mountain range in New South Wales. It matches a 1894 line engraving of the painting exhibited in Sydney and reviewed as 'amongst the best pictures of the year', which by 1935 Streeton had listed as 'disappeared' from his studio. Streeton painted the lilies directly on top of this canvas which, if rotated to the right, reveals the mountain range more clearly. It is difficult to know why Streeton painted over one of his most notable 1890s landscapes, but many of his still-lifes have earlier paintinqs underneath.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
A retrospective exhibition of paintings by Arthur Streeton, Athenaeum Gallery, Melbourne, 15 Aug 1933–26 Aug 1933
Paintings by Sir Arthur Streeton, Athenaeum Gallery, Melbourne, 14 Feb 1961–24 Feb 1961
The Passionate gardener: Arthur Streeton's flower paintings, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington, 04 Nov 2001–02 Dec 2001
Still life, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 Jul 2013–23 Apr 2014
FLORA AUSTRALIS, Bega Valley Regional Gallery, Bega, 11 Mar 2016–11 Jun 2016
Streeton, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 07 Nov 2020–14 Feb 2021
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Bibliography
Referenced in 5 publications
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Ann Elias, Sydney College of the Arts, Useless beauty: Flowers and Australian art, United Kingdom, 2015, 55, 243, plate 19 (colour illus.).
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Athenaeum Gallery, Paintings by Arthur Streeton, Melbourne, 1961. cat.no. 11 [possibly according to Geoffrey Smith, 1995]
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Athenaeum Gallery, A retrospective exhibition of paintings by Arthur Streeton (1933), Melbourne, 1933. cat.no. 21
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Margaret Berkeley, The Australian women's weekly, 'Streeton home keeps artistic atmosphere', pg. 8-9, Sydney, 05 May 1965, 9 (illus.).
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Arthur Streeton, The Arthur Streeton catalogue, Melbourne, 1935. cat.no. 1067
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