Lot 7

Christie's, Melbourne, 24 November 1999, lot 181 (as 'A Seated Figure in a Macedon Landscape')
Private collection, Melbourne

-Viewing in Sydney-

Frederick McCubbin's deep connection to Mount Macedon is evident in the number of artworks he produced in and around the area from the early
1900s until his death in 1917. In 1901, McCubbin
purchased a cottage named ‘Fontainebleau' in the
Macedon Ranges, which became a retreat for the
artist and his family. The name ‘Fontainebleau'
was influenced by the forest near Paris where the
Barbizon School painters had worked and sought
inspiration in the mid nineteenth century. This
French school of painting was part of the larger
European movement towards naturalism in art
which led to the establishment of Realism and
influenced the young Impressionist artists.

Surrounded by dense bushland, towering gums
trees and dappled sunlight, the region provided
McCubbin with a new sense of tranquillity and
inspiration, shifting his palette towards more
atmospheric and impressionistic tones. The
Macedon Ranges became an importance place
to the McCubbin family and a source of great
inspiration to Frederick. McCubbin's daughter,
Kathleen, wrote that her father's: ‘greatest love
was the bushland at Mt Macedon. The mystique of
the Australian bushland intrigued him: the sunlight
glinting through the tall timbers, the secret colours in
the abundant undergrowth, the call of the birds, and the
whispering breeze'. (1)

At Mount Macedon, McCubbin moved away from
the narrative compositions of his early career and
embraced a more introspective and expressive
response to the landscape. The later works are
characterised by loose brushwork, a softened
palette, and a poetic evocation of the Australian
bush. Macedon offered McCubbin not only a
physical escape from the city but also a profound
emotional and spiritual connection to nature; a
space where he could reflect, observe, and create.
Paintings from this period, often depicting the
surrounding forests, ferns, and mountain air,
mark a distinct chapter in McCubbin's oeuvre
and underscore his enduring legacy as a founding
figure of Australian Impressionism.

(1) Mangan, K., Daisy Chains, War, The Jazz,
Hutchison, Melbourne, 1984, p. 70