Tom Roberts was an English/Australian painter who was one of the foremost of the Australian painters known as the Heidelberg School, or “Australian Impressionists” — a remarkable group of 19th century painters who we hear too little of here in the U.S.
The group, and Roberts in particular, are much better known in Australia, of course, and a major retrospective of Robert’s work recently opened at the National Gallery of Australia, where it will be on display until 28 march 2016.
The museum has a nice set of galleries of Roberts’ work (accessed from the drop-down menu under “Gallery”), arranged by subject.
Like others in the Heidelberg School — named for the area in Victoria where they frequently painted — Roberts had a simultaneously refined and lively approach to paint application, with beautiful surface textures, muted color and subtle value relationships.
Fortunately, many of the images in the gallery are large enough to appreciate his surface textures (be sure to use the arrows to make the galleries full-screen).
For more, including links to additional sources, see my 2014 post on Tom Roberts
