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Details
- Date
- 1889
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 213.4 x 116.9 cm board; 266.5 x 170 x 14 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.l. corner, brown oil "J.R. ASHTON. 1889".
- Credit
- Purchased 1889
- Location
- South Building, ground level, Grand Courts
- Accession number
- 4554
- Copyright
- Artist information
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Julian Ashton
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
The discovery of gold in Australia the 1850s enticed
thousands of fortune hunters from here and across the
globe into a frenzy of digging, scouring and fossicking
for riches.In 1889 when Julian Ashton painted 'The prospector',
the height of the gold rush was over and many of the
eclectic bunch of itinerant prospectors had abandoned
the goldfields. As such, Ashton’s painting, a nostalgic
conception of the prospector, was posed and painted in
his studio. A pick and shovel have been carefully arranged
at the prospector’s feet while he intently examines the
contents of his panning dish for that elusive glimmer.
Ashton portrays the prospector as a hard-working,
strong and self-reliant character – virtues which at the
time were central to the notion of Australian character
and emerging identity. Ashton’s vision of the heroic
prospector feeds into mythologies of the gold rush
being dominated by British and Irish men when, in fact,
the goldfields were populated by diggers from many
countries including China, Germany, Italy and Poland. -
Exhibition history
Shown in 10 exhibitions
Tenth Annual Exhibition of the Art Society of New South Wales (1889), Society Rooms, Union Chambers, Sydney, 1889 -
World's Columbian Exposition, 1893, Jackson Park, Chicago, , 01 May 1893–30 Oct 1893
Exhibition of Australian art in London (1898), Grafton Galleries, London, 02 Apr 1898–31 Jul 1898
A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Sep 1953–25 Oct 1953
Julian Ashton, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 14 Nov 1981–31 Jan 1982
Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan, 28 Apr 1992–28 Jun 1992
Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto, 14 Jul 1992–06 Sep 1992
Gold Fever! Life on the diggings 1851-1855, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 25 Feb 1994–15 May 1994
Gold Fever! Life on the diggings 1851-1855, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, 17 Jun 1994–21 Aug 1994
Gold Fever! Life on the diggings 1851-1855, Sovereign Hill Gold Museum, Ballarat, , 16 Sep 1994–20 Nov 1994
Gold and civilisation, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Canberra, 11 Mar 2001–24 Jun 2001
Gold and civilisation, Melbourne Museum, Victoria, 18 Jul 2001–21 Oct 2001
A Nation Imagined: The Artists of the Picturesque Atlas, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 12 Mar 2021–11 Jul 2021
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 39 publications
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Brian Ahearn (Editor), The Australasian coin & banknote collectables magazine, Canowindra, May 2001, front cover (colour illus.). Special issue on gold and gold discoveries in Australia.
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Sydney, 1972, 77 (colour illus.).
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Hubert Howe Bancroft, The book of the fair; an historical and descriptive presentation of the world's science, art, and industry, as viewed through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, Chicago, 1893, 729.
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Deborah Clark, Gold and civilisation, 'Art of the goldfields', pg. 62-77, Canberra, 2001, 62 (colour illus., detail), 63, 73 (colour illus.).
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Edward Combes, Sydney Morning Herald, 'The Art Society's Exhibition', pg. 5, Sydney, 30 Dec 1876, 5.
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales Bulletin, 'Close-Ups of the Collection', pg. 34, Sydney, Aug 1996-Oct 1996, 34 (colour illus.).
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Dinah Dysart, Julian Ashton: essay on the artist (Volume I), Canberra, 1981, 42, 45 (illus.).
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Dinah Dysart, Julian Ashton (Volume II), Canberra, 1981. Illustrations of sketches of the model used in 'The prospector'.
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Dinah Dysart, Julian Ashton 1851-1942, 'Introduction', pg. 3-6, Sydney, 1982, 4, 11 (illus.), 14,. illus.no. 11, cat.no. 30
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Michael Evans, Gold Fever! Life on the diggings 1851-1855, Canberra, 1994. Listed in catalogue under the heading "The true picture?". No cat. number.
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Susannah Fullerton, Look, 'Brief encounters: Literary travellers in Australia, 1836-1939', pg. 29, Sydney, Apr 2009, 29 (colour illus.).
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Geoff K. Gray Pty. Ltd., Australian and European paintings, Monday 9th March, 1981, 6:30 p.m., Rosebery, 1981, 21, 22 (illus.). lot no. 204, 'Working the sluice', 1884
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James Gleeson, Impressionist painters 1881-1930, St Kilda, 1971, 23 (colour illus.), 83.
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Grafton Galleries, Exhibition of Australian art in London, London, 1898, 20. cat.no. 91; titled 'The Prospector'; Lent by the Trustees of Sydney Gallery
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Colin Haynes (Director), Centenary of Federation: South Australia. South Australia, Federation and the twentieth century (Episode one: Utopia and the great Southern Land), Australia, 17 Oct 2001, 0:18.37-0:18.40 (colour illus., detail). 'Utopia and the Great Southern Land' was broadcoast on ABC television 17 October 2001.
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 112 (colour illus.).
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Elsie D May, Our guardian angels, Sussex, 2001, 41 (illus.).
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Patrick H McCarthy, Bailed up: the story behind the painting, Sydney, 2006, 14-15, 16 (colour illus.).
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Alan McCulloch, Artists of the Australian gold rush, Melbourne, 1977, back cover (colour illus., detail).
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Alan McCulloch, The golden age of Australian painting - Impressionism and the Heidelberg school, Melbourne, 1969, 114 (colour illus.). plate no. 56
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Tim McLachlan, The national times: Australia's national weekly of business and affairs., 'Julian Ashton in modern perspective', pg. 48, Sydney, 08 Nov 1981-14 Nov 1981, 48.
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Australian artists: Some have real artistic merit and the collection is credible', Chicago Daily Tribune, 'Pictures, pg. 9, Chicago, 08 Jun 1893, 9.
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Hal Missingham, A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting, Sydney, 1953. Section 3: cat.no. 42; titled 'The Prospector'
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National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1893, Sydney, 1893, 107. cat.no. 364, Loan collection to the Commissioners of the Chicago Exposition
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National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1891, Sydney, 1891, 66.
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Barry Pearce and Haruo Arikawa, Two hundred years of Australian painting: nature, people and art in the southern continent, Tokyo, 1992, 97 (colour illus.). cat.no. 52
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Royal Art Society of New South Wales, Art Society of New South Wales Spring Exhibition Catalogue (1889), Sydney, 1889, 20, 21 (b&w line illus.). cat.no. 53; priced 150 guineas
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Bernard William Smith, A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875-1952, Sydney, 1953, 18. cat.no. 20
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Terry Smith, Australian art and architecture: essays presented to Bernard Smith, 'The divided meaning of "Shearing the Rams": artists and nationalism, 1888-1891', pg. 99-123, Melbourne, 1980, 107, 122.
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William Splatt and Barbara Burton, 100 masterpieces of Australian painting, Adelaide, 1973, 54, 55 (colour illus.). plate no. 24
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Graeme Sturgeon, Australia - the painter's vision, Kensington, 1987, 110 (colour illus.), 111, 202. plate no. 66
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Daniel Thomas, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'Tom Roberts', pg. 466-487, Sydney, Jul 1969, 472.
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Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Minutes 31.8.1880-4.8.1891, Sydney, 1880-1891, 8 October 1889.
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Vaurien, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'The Art Gallery', pg. 5, Sydney, 13 Dec 1890, 5.
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Vivienne Webb, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Golden age', pg. 37-38, Sydney, 2000, 43 (colour illus.), 300.
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Natalie Wilson, Selling a nation: Australian artists at International Exhibitions [M.A., University of Sydney], 'Organisation of the New South Wales display in Chicago', pg.18-45, Sydney, 2001, between 28-29 (colour illus.), 29-31, 52. figure no. 14
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Editor Unknown (Editor), The Sydney Morning Herald, 'The Art Society's Exhibition', pg. 4, Sydney, 13 Dec 1890, 4.
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World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893: Catalogue of the exhibits in the New South Wales Courts, 'Department K - fine arts, painting, sculpture, architecture and decoration. Grou, p 140, Sydney, 1893, 435. cat.no. 2; section 1178
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Editor Unknown (Editor), Great Australian landscape paintings, Melbourne, 1973, (colour illus.). plate no. 16
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