Lot 7

Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 5 November 1986, lot 50 (as 'Bamborough Castle')
Private collection, Western Australia
Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 28 November 2017, lot 48 (as 'Bamborough Castle')
Private collection, Western Australia

Arthur Streeton's depictions of Bamburgh Castle followed his travels and stay in England. Towering above the Northumberland coastline, Bamburgh Castle which is steeped in centuries of history, offered Streeton a dramatic subject; a castle balanced between vast skies and choppy seas. The artworks of this castle reveal Streeton's enduring fascination with light and atmosphere, applied now to the English landscape rather than his native Australia.

Streeton's treatment of Bamburgh Castle, captures both the monumentality of the medieval fortress and the subtle tonal shifts of its environment. His brushwork remains loose yet purposeful, the castle rendered with a luminous solidity that contrasts with the softness of the sand dunes and sea. While the subject was new, the approach of capturing grandeur through light, remained distinctively Streeton.

Streeton's small series of artworks depicting this castle, were painted during trips to the English countryside, often for commissions or personal interest. They reflect his assimilation of British romantic landscape traditions, while maintaining his own plein-air sensibility. Streeton's Bamburgh Castle paintings are not just topographical records but atmospheric meditations on place, time, and mood of this rugged landscape.


RELATED WORK:
Arthur Streeton, Bamboro Castle, Northumberland 1908, watercolour on paper, 23 x 31cm, Mossgreen Auctions, Melbourne, 29 August 2016, lot 35; Galbally, A., Arthur Streeton, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1979, p. 77, cat. no. 24 (illus.)