British-born Australian Painter, 1856-1931 Australian painter of English birth. A leader of the HEIDELBERG SCHOOL and pioneer of plein-air Impressionism in Australia, he has been described as 'the father of Australian landscape painting'. Having moved to Melbourne in 1869, he studied at the East Collingwood and Carlton Schools of Design and the National Gallery of Victoria's School of Art (1874-81) while working as a photographic assistant. He led sketching expeditions with Frederick McCubbin and initiated student requests for reforms at the school. Returning to England, he enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools, London, on 6 December 1881, officially recommended by Edwin Long. In the summer of 1883 he toured Spain with the painter John Peter Russell. He learnt something of French Impressionism from Spanish art students Ramon Casas and Loreano Barrau (b 1864), and then followed the latter's advice to visit the Academie Julian in Paris. He returned to Melbourne in 1885 and the following year established the first summer camp at Box Hill with McCubbin and Louis Abrahams (1852-1903), portrayed in his painting the Artists' Camp (c. 1886; Melbourne, N.G. Victoria). According to the painter Arthur Streeton, it was Roberts's 'quick perception and expression of the principles of Impressionism in the year 1886,  Related Paintings of Tom roberts :. | Bourke Street,Melbourne (nn02) | Woman at the Piano | the Macintyre | Across the Dandenongs | Cloud Study |
Related Artists:
Charles Deas
1818-1867,American painter. After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an appointment at West Point Military Academy, he turned to an artistic career. He quickly earned recognition at the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design, New York, to which he was elected an associate member in 1839, with subjects taken from James Fenimore Cooper, such as the Turkey Shoot (c. 1837; Richmond, VA Mus. F.A.), and from Washington Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker (1838; Richard P. W. Williams priv. col.).
Le Sidaner Henri
Ile Maurice 1862-Versailles,1939 was an impressionist painter born to a French family in Port Louis, Mauritius. In 1870 he and his family settled in Dunkirk. Le Sidaner received most of his tutelage from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the instruction of Alexandre Cabanel but later broke away due to artistic differences. He traveled extensively throughout France and also visited many cities around the globe such as London, New York, Venice and Paris as well as some small villages throughout Europe. Le Sidaner exhibited at the Salon, the Galeries Georges Petit in Paris and the Goupil Gallery in London. He lived in Gerberoy, France. Le Sidaner's work was referenced in Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time.
Luis Melendez
1716-80 He assisted his father, artist Francisco Melendez, until 1737, when he began studying with Lewis-Michel Vanloo, the court painter to Philip V of France. Although accepted (1745) into the Spanish Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he was expelled after his father denounced the academy in a dispute over a royal competition. After traveling throughout Italy, he returned to work for his father as an illustrator of choirbooks.