Lily Stirling by Tom Roberts

In this portrait of bereavement, Frederick McCubbin has characterised both loss and hardship. The scenario seems initially clear but the painting leaves us to speculate on the nature of the relationships.

In Shearing the rams, Tom Roberts painted the mainstay of the Australian colony.

Here is a late 19th century artist who could paint children who were not lost or destitute or dead but exhibiting good-humoured curiosity, the hallmark of a happy childhood.

Arthur Streeton and Sydney were each other’s gift. Sydney provided the perfect outdoor subjects for an Impressionist and Streeton become the champion of Sydney Harbour, painting it in all its moods.

This painting was one of Streeton’s few nods to symbolism. His allegorical Spirit of the Drought is placed on an Impressionist landscape and to that landscape he remained true.

Arthur Streeton was a fan of the English poet Percy Shelley as revealed in this painting’s title. Immediately hailed as a masterpiece, the painting’s reputation has endured.

The 9 x 5 impression exhibition set out to educate the Australian public in international art practice.

What makes a great portrait? Perhaps when it generates enduring interest in the subject’s character – and what a layering of possibilities there is in Tom Roberts’s painting of Lily Stirling.

Both Roberts and Condor painted the breathtaking view from Eaglemont Hill across the Yarra Valley to the Dandenongs but Streeton made it his own in magnificent blue and gold panoramas.

Condor painted A Holiday at Mentone especially for land-booming Melbourne. It was a showpiece, produced after his move from Sydney where he had painted less elaborate beach scenes.