Browse Items · Medievalism in Australian Cultural Memory

'St Francis beaten by his Father', by Arthur Boyd

This work by Arthur Boyd was acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1969 with funds from the Morgan Thomas Bequest. It depicts St Francis of Assisi being beaten by his father, who is known to have objected to Francisâ€™ religious…

"Requiescat" by Briton RiviÃ¨re

This oil on canvas painting by English artist Briton Rivière was purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales (from the artist) in 1897-1898. Completed in 1888, it depicts an armoured medieval knight lying supine on top of a wooden bed and…

Tags: Armor, Armour, art, bed, bloodhound, breastplate, burial rites, byrnie, chain mail, chainmail, coif, couter, cuisses, death, dog, epitaph, greaves, hauberk, helmet, hood, knight, mail, maille, pauldron, plate armour, poleyn, rerebrace, rest, sabaton, shynbald, soul, vambrace, wreath

‘Mr Waller Napier Returns’, The Argus, 10 March 1930.

Mr Napier Waller Returns_The Argus_10 March 1930_p6.pdf

This article from The Argus in 1930 reports on the return to Melbourne of famed Australian mosaic and stained glass artist Mervyn Napier Wallace and his wife. Napier, whose mosaics in the Melbourne Town Hall and the National Gallery were already well…

Tags: art, electric furnace, medieval craft, Melbourne, Melbourne Town Hall, Mervyn Napier Waller (1893-1972), mosaic, mural paintings, National Gallery, stained glass, Vic, Victoria

‘The New Renaissance’, Australian Women’s Weekly, 6 April 1955

This article from The Australian Women’s Weekly in 1955 posits contemporary Australian society as being at the precipice of a ‘New Renaissance’ in terms of widening access to and public interest in fine art. Pinpointing Ancient…

Tags: â€˜new renaissanceâ€™, art, art appreciation, Art Prize, Australian Womenâ€™s Weekly, canvas, Henri Matisse (1869-1954), leisured, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), magazine, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564), patronage, populace, privileged, prize, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), Renaissance, rich

'Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question', by Grace Cossington Smith

This painting by Sydney artist Grace Cossington Smith derives its title,'Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question', from Matthew, Chapter xxii, verse 35. Although better known for her paintings of domestic interiors, this is one of…

Tags: art, Australian artist, biblical, Blake Prize, devotional art, Giotto (c.1266-1337), Grace Cossington Smith (1892-1984), Masaccio, Matthew, painters, religious art, Renaissance art, scripture, Tommaso di ser Giovanni di Simone (c.1401-1428), Tribute Money

â€˜Afternoon in Chartres Cathedralâ€™ by Salvatore Zofrea

This woodblock print, from Salvatore Zofrea’s Appassionata collection, was gifted to the Art Gallery of New South Wales by the Italian-Australian artist in 2002. Depicting a scene in Chartres Cathedral, it features the gothic arches, vaulted…

Tags: Appassionata, architecture, art, Art gallery of New South Wales, Cathedral, Catholicism, Chartres Cathedral, church interior, ecclesiastical building, France, French Gothic, gothic architecture, print, Salvatore Zofrea (b.1946), stained glass, window

â€˜Chaucer at the Court of Edward IIIâ€™, by Ford Madox Brown

This large oil on canvas history painting by Victorian artist Ford Madox Brown was purchased (directly from the artist) by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1876. Subtitled “Geoffrey Chaucer Reading the ‘Legend of Custance’ to…

â€˜Inferno, canto XIII: The Forest of Suicidesâ€™ by Fiona Hall

This photographic artwork by Australian artist Fiona Hall belongs to a series titled ‘Illustrations to Dante’s Divine Comedy’. It is held by The National Gallery of Australia and depicts a scene from canto XIII of Dante…

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