Lot 10

Mrs McCubbin, Melbourne
The Collection of Thomas C. Lothian, Melbourne
Artlovers Gallery, Sydney (as "Yarra River from Top of Kensington Road") (label verso)
Elder Smith Goldsbrough Mort, Adelaide 1971
Elders IXL, Adelaide 1985
Foster's Brewing, Melbourne (as "Yarra River Top of Kensington Road, South Yarra") (label verso)
Sotheby's, The Foster's Collection of Australian Art, Melbourne, 23 May 2005, lot 24 (as "Yarra River from Kensington Road, South Yarra")
Private collection, Western Australia

Elders IXL Collection: Masterworks of Australian Painting and French Barbizon School, Colonial, Contemporary, Continental, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2 March - 1 April 1984, cat. no. 47
Portrait of Australia 1830-1930: The Elders IXL Collection, Riddoch Art Gallery, South Australia, 25 April - 1 June 1986
The Art of Frederick McCubbin 1855-1917, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 18 December 1991 - 25 February 1992; touring to Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 16 April - 1 June; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 26 June - 9 August; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 31 August - 11 October; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 28 October - 6 December 1992, cat. no. 54 (as "Yarra River from Kensington Road South Yarra") (label verso)
McCubbin: Last Impressions, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra,14 August - 1 November 2009; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 12 December 2009 - 28 March 2010; Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 24 April - 25 July 2010, cat. no. 73 (label verso)

Radford, R., Elders IXL Collection: Masterworks of Australian Painting and French Barbizon School, Colonial, Contemporary, Continental, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1984, p. 36, cat. no. 18 (illus.)
Radford, R., Luhrs, P. et al., Portrait of Australia: Elders IXL Collection, Elders IXL Limited, Melbourne, 1986, pp. 40-41, cat. no. 27 (illus.)
Mackenzie, A., Frederick McCubbin 1855-1917, 'The Proff' and his Art, Mannagum Press, Victoria, 1990, pp. 208-09, cat. no. 67 (illus.) (as "Yarra River from Kensington Road")
Whitelaw, B., The Art of Frederick McCubbin, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1991, pp. 128-29 (illus.), 135, cat. no. 54 (as "Yarra River from Kensington Road South Yarra")
Gray, A., McCubbin Last Impressions 1907-17, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2009, pp. 153 (illus.), 161, cat. no. 73

'The Lime Tree' (1917) by Frederick McCubbin (1855-1917), also known as 'Yarra River from Kensington Road, South Yarra', is a moving work that marks the end of an extraordinary career. Painted from the side veranda of McCubbin's home in South Yarra, it captures not only a view of his own backyard but also the serenity and beauty of a place that was very important to him in his final years. It stands as both an artistic and deeply personal homage to the property and its surroundings, rendered with the sensitivity and maturity that characterised his late style. Its importance is recognised by its inclusion in the significant travelling exhibition McCubbin: Last Impressions, which was represented at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Art Gallery of Western Australia and Victoria Bendigo Art Gallery between 2009 and 2010.

McCubbin moved to South Yarra in 1907, shortly after returning from a brief trip to Europe. One can imagine the tranquillity the property offered, a striking contrast to the noise and chaos of European cities. The relocation marked the beginning of his final chapter.

"The McCubbin family moved to 'Carlesberg' at 42 Kensington Road, South Yarra in 1907, shortly after McCubbin's return from overseas. It was one of the earliest houses in Melbourne, and consisted of approximately 10 rooms and a verandah. By the time the McCubbins lived there, the property had been reduced to approximately three acres and ran from Kensington Road down to the Yarra." (1)

Immediately McCubbin felt a deep affinity to the place and the garden became an important subject for his paintings. As McCubbin wrote to his close friend Tom Roberts in 1907:

"This is the loveliest place I have ever lived in. A charming old colonial house perched right over the Yarra with three acres of garden and trees... The winding stream, gums, osiers and wattle; interspersed. The night effects; sunrise, moonrise, we can see every way." (2)

Part of these surroundings is the majestic The Lime Tree McCubbin painted and this work is widely considered to be the last work by the artist to be completed. The work depicts the very view he cherished in life. His daughter Kathleen recalls her memories surrounding its creation:

"I always remember the name of this work as The Lime Tree and it really has a lot of sentimental value for me because it was painted from the side verandah of our house in South Yarra, overlooking the quarry...This particular painting is also of very great sentimental value for me because it was the last painting my father ever painted and it was not long after its completion that he died.

I remember coming home from school... I would see my father sitting on the verandah in his dressing-gown and black velvet beret... and he would be painting this picture of The Lime Tree. He was in really poor health at the time, but he persisted, and he kept on painting until it was finished." (3)

The painting is not only deeply sentimental, but it also reveals the maturity of McCubbin's technique. By this stage, his style had become increasingly loose, expressive, and rich in atmosphere. It is a canvas that captures the spirit of nature as much as the artist's love for the garden's beauty.

'The Lime Tree' is not just a final painting; it is a final vision. It stands for the poetic sensibility that defined McCubbin's approach to the Australian landscape a painter at peace with his environment. Expressing in luminous colour and form the deep contentment he had found in his house above the Yarra.

"McCubbin's art was most remarkable during his final years…His daring, his experimental painterliness, and his ability to capture the Australian landscape produced some incredible work." (4)

Wiebke Brix
Head of Art

(1) Elena Taylor, https://digital.nga.gov.au/archive/exhibition/mccubbin
(2) McCubbin to Roberts, December 1907, Letters to Tom Roberts, vol. II, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney
(3) Gray, A., McCubbin Last Impressions 1907-17, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2009, p. 153
(4) Gray A. cited in Perkin C., 'Such Dreams of Colour', Weekend Australian, 8 - 9 August 2009, p.4