Lot 6

Private collection, Victoria
Thence by descent

Ada Whiting came to miniature painting comparatively late, producing her first portrait at the age of forty. Just two years later, in 1900 two of her miniatures were accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, a rare honour from an Australian at the time. Soon afterwards, the National Gallery of New South Wales (not the Art Gallery of New South Wales) exhibited a group of her portraits, and in 1905 acquired three for its collection.

From her Collins Street studio in Melbourne, Whiting became widely admired for the clarity of her likeness and the delicate colouring of her watercolours on ivory. Newspapers frequently remarked on the swiftness of her execution, noting that she could finish a portrait "in two or three settings with little loss of likeness," a skill that secured her a steady stream of commissions from prominent families and public figures.

Among her most loyal patrons was Dame Nellie Melba, who also became a close friend. Melba urged Whiting to take her career abroad, but she chose to instead remain in Australia, working well into her nineties. As her eyesight failed, she turned from portraiture to still lifes, continuing to paint with the same quiet determination.

Hannah Ryan
Senior Art Specialist