European Old Masters: 16th – 19th Century

Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre,   
782 Kingsway, Gymea NSW Australia

28 September  – 3 December 2017 

European old masters including  magnificent works by some of the leading  Italian, French and British artists of the High Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Romantic periods are on loan from the Art Gallery of New South Wales to Hazelhurst Regional Gallery for the exhibition European  Old Masters: 16th  – 19th Century . 

• Jacopo Amigoni Bacchus and Ariadne c1740-42. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Gift of James Fairfax AC 1993. Photo: AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.

Despite its early ambitions to collect works by the  European masters, The Art Gallery of New South Wales did not in fact start collecting old masters until the 1950. Between 1951 and 1976, the Gallery acquired an outstanding group of English 18th - century portraits,  including works by three of the leading painters of the age: William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough and  Joshua Reynolds. During the se years the Gallery also purchased landscapes and subject pictures  representative of British Neo - Classicism and Romanticism by artists such as Richard Wilson, John Glover,  Richard Westall, William Hamilton and Francis Danby.  

The extraordinary donation by James Fairfax AC during the 1990s significantly enriched the Gallery’s holdings of European old masters, particularly in the area of 18th - century French and Italian art such as the works by Nicolas de Largillierre and  Canaletto.  The collection has continued to develop with the  acquisition of major Italian Renaissance and Baroque works  such as the work of Giulio Cesare Procaccini,  also exhibited in  European Old masters: 16th - 19th Century . 


Sir Charles Lock Eastlake
 An antique rural scene
 1823-1824
oil on canvas
 67.3 x 90.3 cm canvas; 100.4 x 124.0 x 14.0 cm frame Bequest of Amy Alfreda Vickery 1942

 


William Hogarth 
Dr Benjamin Hoadly M D
early 1740 
oil on canvas 
75.9 x 63.5 cm stretcher; 98.5 x 86.2 x 5.0 cm frame Purchased 1951

 

Joseph Wright of Derby 
Margaret Oxenden
 circa 1757-circa 1759 
oil on canvas
126.3 x 102.0 cm stretcher; 151.7 x 127.0 x 7.5 cm frame Purchased 1952

 


Sir Joshua Reynolds
 Stephen Croft
 1760 
oil on canvas
76.2 x 63.6 cm stretcher; 95.5 x 82.0 x 7.0 cm frame Purchased 1965


Bernardo Strozzi
 The release of St Peter
circa 1635
oil on canvas
125.5 x 114.0 cm stretcher; 149.5 x 138.8 x 7.0 cm frame Purchased 1965

 

Thomas Gainsborough 
Samuel Kilderbee
 circa 1758 
circa 1783 {partially repainted}
oil on canvas
76.3 x 63.7 cm stretcher; 94.5 x 82.5 x 9.5 cm frame Purchased 1966

 

Francis Danby
 The three sisters of Phaethon weeping over the tomb of their brother 1841-1845
 oil on canvas
63.5 x 91.6 cm stretcher; 76.0 x 104.0 x 7.5 cm frame
 Purchased 1970

  

Sir Henry Raeburn
 John Spottiswoode of Spottiswoode 
circa 1820
oil on canvas
128.6 x 102.7 cm canvas; 151.5 x 126.0 x 10.2 cm frame Purchased with the William and Mary Farnsworth gift fund 1971


Sir Joshua Reynolds
 James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale
 1759-1760
oil on canvas
239 x 148.5 cm stretcher; 263.5 x 172.0 x 9.0 cm frame
Purchased with an anonymous gift fund for an 18th century portrait 1976

 

Jean-Marc Nattier 
Madame de La Porte
 1754
 oil on canvas
 80.8 x 64.1 approx original canvas; 81.7 x 65.4 cm stretcher; 111.0 x 94.5 x 10.0 cm frame
 Gift of William Bowmore OBE 1992


Nicolas de Largillierre
 Portrait of an officer
 circa 1714-circa 1715
oil on canvas
65.5 x 54.1 cm original canvas; 65.9 x 55.1 cm stretcher; 90.0 x 78.8 x 10.0 cm frame
Gift of James Fairfax AC 1995

 


Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
 The apotheosis of a pope and martyr 
circa 1780-1785
 oil on canvas
83.5 x 45.0 x 1.5 cm stretcher; 99.5 x 61.3 x 5.5 cm frame Gift of James Fairfax AC 1995

 


Canaletto
 The Piazza San Marco, Venice 1742-1746 oil on canvas
6 7.5 x 119.0 cm stretcher; 85.0 x 136.0 x 9.0 cm frame Gift of James Fairfax AC 1996