Shearing the Rams
Encyclopedia
Shearing the Rams is an 1890
painting by the Australia
n artist Tom Roberts
. The painting depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed
. Distinctly Australian in character, the painting is a celebration of pastoral life and work, especially "strong, masculine labour" and recognises the role that wool-growing played in the development of the country.
One of the most well known and loved paintings in Australia, Shearing the Rams has been described as a "masterpiece of Australian impressionism" and "the great icon of Australian popular art history". The painting is part of the National Gallery of Victoria
Australian art collection.
of the 24000 hectares (59,305.2 acre) "Brocklesby" sheep station
, near Corowa
in the Riverina
region of New South Wales
. The property was owned by the Anderson family, distant relations to Roberts, who first visited the station in 1886 to attend a family wedding. Having decided on shearing as the subject for a painting, Roberts arrived at Brocklesby in the spring of 1888, making around 70 preliminary sketches. The following shearing season, he returned to the station with his canvas. Roberts' work was noted by the local press with reports of him "dressed in blue shirt and moleskins ... giving the last finishing touches to a picture in oils about 5ft by 4ft."
Art historians had previously thought Roberts completed most of the painting in his studio, using the sketches drawn in his time at Brocklesby. In 2003 however, art critic and historian Paul Johnson wrote: "Tom Roberts spent two years, on the spot, painting Shearing the Rams". New evidence was brought to light in 2006 that suggested that Roberts painted much of the work en plein air
at the shearing shed itself. In 2006, The National Gallery of Victoria
(NGV) conducted a scientific examination of paint left on a piece of timber salvaged from the now-destroyed shed, where it was thought that Roberts cleaned his brushes. The study confirmed that the paint, in a number of different shades, precisely matched the paint used in the painting. The senior curator of art at the NGV, Terence Lane, believes this is strong evidence that much of the work was done on location, "For me, that's evidence of a lot of time spent in that woolshed ... all those paint marks and the selection of colours indicates he spent so much time en plein air".
In a seeming anachronism, the painting shows sheep being shorn with blade shears rather than the machine shears which started to enter Australian shearing sheds in the late 1880s. The young man carrying the fleece on the left of the painting alludes to the figure of Esau
in Ghiberti
's Gates of Paradise at the Florence Baptistry. The model for the tar-boy, a smiling figure in the centre of the picture was actually a girl, Susan Davis, who lived until 1979. She also assisted Roberts by kicking up dust in the shed to allow him to capture some of the atmosphere.
An x-ray
study of the painting in 2007, taken while the painting was being cleaned, unveiled Roberts' original sketch of the central shearer. In that original sketch, the shearer was lacking a beard and was more upright; the change to a stooping figure makes the shearer appear more in control of the sheep, improving his role as the painting's focus.
John Thallon, a Melbourne frame-maker, provided the frame for many of Roberts' paintings, including this one.
, a working class suburb of Melbourne
. A talented artist, Roberts returned to England in 1881 when he was selected to study at the Royal Academy of Arts. While in Europe, Roberts imbued the principles of impressionism and plein air principles and brought them back with him to Melbourne when he returned in 1885. With like-minded artists, he was involved in the development of the "Heidelberg School
" movement, a group of artists painting en plein air in the impressionist tradition, with nationalist and regionalist overtones.
In 1888, the Australian colonies celebrated the 100th anniversary of European settlement
. Seeking to develop a national art, Roberts chose a subject that would symbolise the embryonic nation over the past century since the arrival of the First Fleet
. In the late 19th-century, wool was a major source of wealth for the colonies, with over 80 million sheep in Australia in 1888. In addition, Roberts aimed to record some the historic agricultural and pastoral methods used over that period in Australia, especially those involving "strong masculine labour". Historian Geoffrey Blainey
states that shearers of that era, like Jackie Howe, were seen almost as "folk heroes" with shearing tallies reported in local newspapers in a similar manner to sports scores. According to Paul Johnson, the painting, like works by Arthur Streeton
, illustrates the tribute paid by Australian artists to their country: "[they] saw the country as a place where hard work and determination were making it the world's paradise". Shearing the Rams itself is described by Johnson as a celebration of "the industry which produced the wealth" of Australia.
Roberts finished Shearing the Rams in May 1890 and unveiled it at his studio on Collins Street
, Melbourne. Roberts wished to sell the painting to the NGV, however this was opposed by key people at the gallery, including the director and one of the trustees. Eventually he sold the painting to a local stock and station agent
for 350 guineas
; the agent displayed it in his office in Melbourne. The NGV finally acquired the painting in 1932—one year after Roberts' death—using funds from the Felton Bequest
.
The painting was rehung in a new, wider frame in 2002; according to the NGV conservators this was in line with Roberts' original frame, which had been trimmed down over the years as framing fashion changed. In 2006, the NGV began a major restoration
of the picture, the first in over 80 years. The painting had slowly lost its cover as the natural resin used in the previous restoration gradually degraded. The restoration revealed much of Roberts original colour palette as well as background details previously not recognised. After the painting was cleaned, Lane claimed that he "could see the way the space and light flowed across the back reaches of the shearing shed in a way we really hadn't been aware of before." The painting is currently displayed with the NGV's Australian art collection in the Ian Potter Centre
at Federation Square
in Melbourne.
The painting was initially generally well received with Melbourne newspaper The Age
reported that the painting was a "most important work of a distinctly Australian character". However more conservative elements were critical with The Argus
critic James Smith
commenting that the picture was too naturalistic: "art should be of all times, not of one time, of all places, not of one place", adding "we do not go to an art gallery to see how sheep are shorn". Roberts defended his choice of subject responding that "by making art the perfect expression of one time and one place, it becomes for all time and of all places". Later critics have remarked that it presents an idealised and nostalgic view of pastoral life in Australia, with no sign of the ongoing conflict then taking place between the nascent newly unionised
shearers and the squatters
. However, the painting would eventually be considered as "the definitive image of an emerging national identity."
Shearing the Rams became one of the most well known and loved paintings in the history of Australian art. The picture is widely recognised from "schoolbooks, calendars, jigsaw puzzles, matchboxes and postage stamps." Parodies of the painting have been used in advertising campaigns for items such as hardware and underwear to express what one person described as "promoting what it means to be Australian today". The Australian cartoonist and social commentator Michael Leunig
drew a reinterpration of the painting called Ramming the shears said to be "humourous (sic) and thought provoking in the questions it raises about Australian national identity". The masculine and "self-consciously nationalist" image has been appropriated by other artists on behalf of several excluded groups, including women and immigrants and the Nyoongar artist Dianne Jones made an indigenous claim for inclusion by inserting her father and cousin into the iconic painting.
The photorealist Marcus Beilby
won the Sir John Sulman Prize in 1987 with his work Crutching the ewes. Like Shearing the Rams , the painting also depicts men working in a shearing shed, this time in a modern shed using machine shears with overhead gear. Beilby was consciously inspired by Roberts' painting when creating his own updated version. Beilby gave his work the name Crutching the ewes to differentiate it from the earlier painting, despite the fact that it does not depict men crutching
sheep but rather shearing them. The cinematography in the 1975 film Sunday Too Far Away
was heavily influenced by Shearing the Rams among other Australian paintings.
The shearing shed featured in the painting burned down in a bushfire in 1965, a replica was constructed by the local community on a nearby reserve. A re-enactment of the scene from the painting took place at North Tuppal station near Tocumwal, New South Wales
in June 2010.
1890 in art
-Works:*William-Adolphe Bouguereau - A Little Coaxing*Thomas Dewing - Summer*John Haberle - The Palette*William Harnett - The Faithful Colt *Ferdinand Hodler - Night...
painting by the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n artist Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...
. The painting depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed
Shearing shed
Shearing sheds are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities.In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds are vital to house the necessary shearing equipment, and to ensure that the...
. Distinctly Australian in character, the painting is a celebration of pastoral life and work, especially "strong, masculine labour" and recognises the role that wool-growing played in the development of the country.
One of the most well known and loved paintings in Australia, Shearing the Rams has been described as a "masterpiece of Australian impressionism" and "the great icon of Australian popular art history". The painting is part of the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
Australian art collection.
Composition
Roberts modelled his painting on a shearing shed at what is now called "Killeneen", an outstationOutstation
Historically, an outstation was a subsidiary homestead or other dwelling, on Australian sheep or cattle stations which were large enough to have more than a day's travel between different parts of the property....
of the 24000 hectares (59,305.2 acre) "Brocklesby" sheep station
Sheep station
A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South...
, near Corowa
Corowa, New South Wales
Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. Corowa is the administrative centre of Corowa Shire...
in the Riverina
Riverina
The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...
region of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. The property was owned by the Anderson family, distant relations to Roberts, who first visited the station in 1886 to attend a family wedding. Having decided on shearing as the subject for a painting, Roberts arrived at Brocklesby in the spring of 1888, making around 70 preliminary sketches. The following shearing season, he returned to the station with his canvas. Roberts' work was noted by the local press with reports of him "dressed in blue shirt and moleskins ... giving the last finishing touches to a picture in oils about 5ft by 4ft."
Art historians had previously thought Roberts completed most of the painting in his studio, using the sketches drawn in his time at Brocklesby. In 2003 however, art critic and historian Paul Johnson wrote: "Tom Roberts spent two years, on the spot, painting Shearing the Rams". New evidence was brought to light in 2006 that suggested that Roberts painted much of the work en plein air
En plein air
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism...
at the shearing shed itself. In 2006, The National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
(NGV) conducted a scientific examination of paint left on a piece of timber salvaged from the now-destroyed shed, where it was thought that Roberts cleaned his brushes. The study confirmed that the paint, in a number of different shades, precisely matched the paint used in the painting. The senior curator of art at the NGV, Terence Lane, believes this is strong evidence that much of the work was done on location, "For me, that's evidence of a lot of time spent in that woolshed ... all those paint marks and the selection of colours indicates he spent so much time en plein air".
In a seeming anachronism, the painting shows sheep being shorn with blade shears rather than the machine shears which started to enter Australian shearing sheds in the late 1880s. The young man carrying the fleece on the left of the painting alludes to the figure of Esau
Esau
Esau , in the Hebrew Bible, is the oldest son of Isaac. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the minor prophets, Obadiah and Malachi. The New Testament later references him in the Book of Romans and the Book of Hebrews....
in Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti , born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.-Early life:...
's Gates of Paradise at the Florence Baptistry. The model for the tar-boy, a smiling figure in the centre of the picture was actually a girl, Susan Davis, who lived until 1979. She also assisted Roberts by kicking up dust in the shed to allow him to capture some of the atmosphere.
An x-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
study of the painting in 2007, taken while the painting was being cleaned, unveiled Roberts' original sketch of the central shearer. In that original sketch, the shearer was lacking a beard and was more upright; the change to a stooping figure makes the shearer appear more in control of the sheep, improving his role as the painting's focus.
John Thallon, a Melbourne frame-maker, provided the frame for many of Roberts' paintings, including this one.
History
Roberts was born in England in 1856 and migrated to Australia as a boy in 1873, settling in CollingwoodCollingwood, Victoria
Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
, a working class suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. A talented artist, Roberts returned to England in 1881 when he was selected to study at the Royal Academy of Arts. While in Europe, Roberts imbued the principles of impressionism and plein air principles and brought them back with him to Melbourne when he returned in 1885. With like-minded artists, he was involved in the development of the "Heidelberg School
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....
" movement, a group of artists painting en plein air in the impressionist tradition, with nationalist and regionalist overtones.
In 1888, the Australian colonies celebrated the 100th anniversary of European settlement
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
. Seeking to develop a national art, Roberts chose a subject that would symbolise the embryonic nation over the past century since the arrival of the First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
. In the late 19th-century, wool was a major source of wealth for the colonies, with over 80 million sheep in Australia in 1888. In addition, Roberts aimed to record some the historic agricultural and pastoral methods used over that period in Australia, especially those involving "strong masculine labour". Historian Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Norman Blainey AC , is a prominent Australian historian.Blainey was born in Melbourne and raised in a series of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and the University of Melbourne. While at university he was editor of Farrago, the newspaper of the University of...
states that shearers of that era, like Jackie Howe, were seen almost as "folk heroes" with shearing tallies reported in local newspapers in a similar manner to sports scores. According to Paul Johnson, the painting, like works by Arthur Streeton
Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter.-Early life:Streeton was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. In 1882, Streeton commenced art studies with G. F. Folingsby at the National Gallery School.Streeton was influenced by French...
, illustrates the tribute paid by Australian artists to their country: "[they] saw the country as a place where hard work and determination were making it the world's paradise". Shearing the Rams itself is described by Johnson as a celebration of "the industry which produced the wealth" of Australia.
Roberts finished Shearing the Rams in May 1890 and unveiled it at his studio on Collins Street
Collins Street, Melbourne
Collins Street is a major street in the Melbourne central business district and runs approximately east to west.It is notable as Melbourne's traditional main street and best known street, is often regarded as Australia's premier street, with some of the country's finest Victorian era buildings.The...
, Melbourne. Roberts wished to sell the painting to the NGV, however this was opposed by key people at the gallery, including the director and one of the trustees. Eventually he sold the painting to a local stock and station agent
Stock and station agent
Stock and station agents provide a support service to the agricultural community. They advise and represent farmers and graziers in business transactions that involve livestock, wool, fertiliser, rural property and equipment and merchandise on behalf of their clients...
for 350 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
; the agent displayed it in his office in Melbourne. The NGV finally acquired the painting in 1932—one year after Roberts' death—using funds from the Felton Bequest
Alfred Felton
Alfred Felton was an Australian entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist.-Biography:Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex, England, the fifth child of six sons and three daughters of William Felton, a currier, and his wife Hannah...
.
The painting was rehung in a new, wider frame in 2002; according to the NGV conservators this was in line with Roberts' original frame, which had been trimmed down over the years as framing fashion changed. In 2006, the NGV began a major restoration
Art restoration
Art restoration is related to art conservation. Restoration is a process that attempts to return the work of art to some previous state that the restorer imagines was the "original". This was commonly done in the past...
of the picture, the first in over 80 years. The painting had slowly lost its cover as the natural resin used in the previous restoration gradually degraded. The restoration revealed much of Roberts original colour palette as well as background details previously not recognised. After the painting was cleaned, Lane claimed that he "could see the way the space and light flowed across the back reaches of the shearing shed in a way we really hadn't been aware of before." The painting is currently displayed with the NGV's Australian art collection in the Ian Potter Centre
Ian Potter Centre
The Ian Potter Centre houses the Australian part of the art collection of the National Gallery of Victoria , and is located at Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia...
at Federation Square
Federation Square
Federation Square is a civic centre and cultural precinct in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
in Melbourne.
Legacy
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
reported that the painting was a "most important work of a distinctly Australian character". However more conservative elements were critical with The Argus
The Argus (Australia)
The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left leaning approach from 1949...
critic James Smith
James Smith (journalist)
James Smith was an English-born Australian journalist and encyclopedist.-Early life:Smith was born at Loose near Maidstone, Kent, England, son of James Smith, supervisor of inland revenue, and his wife Mary...
commenting that the picture was too naturalistic: "art should be of all times, not of one time, of all places, not of one place", adding "we do not go to an art gallery to see how sheep are shorn". Roberts defended his choice of subject responding that "by making art the perfect expression of one time and one place, it becomes for all time and of all places". Later critics have remarked that it presents an idealised and nostalgic view of pastoral life in Australia, with no sign of the ongoing conflict then taking place between the nascent newly unionised
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
shearers and the squatters
Squatting (pastoral)
In Australian history, a squatter was one who occupied a large tract of Crown land in order to graze livestock. Initially often having no legal rights to the land, they gained its usage by being the first Europeans in the area....
. However, the painting would eventually be considered as "the definitive image of an emerging national identity."
Shearing the Rams became one of the most well known and loved paintings in the history of Australian art. The picture is widely recognised from "schoolbooks, calendars, jigsaw puzzles, matchboxes and postage stamps." Parodies of the painting have been used in advertising campaigns for items such as hardware and underwear to express what one person described as "promoting what it means to be Australian today". The Australian cartoonist and social commentator Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig , typically referred to as Leunig, is an Australian poet, cartoonist and cultural commentator. His best known works include The Adventures of Vasco Pyjama and the Curly Flats series...
drew a reinterpration of the painting called Ramming the shears said to be "humourous (sic) and thought provoking in the questions it raises about Australian national identity". The masculine and "self-consciously nationalist" image has been appropriated by other artists on behalf of several excluded groups, including women and immigrants and the Nyoongar artist Dianne Jones made an indigenous claim for inclusion by inserting her father and cousin into the iconic painting.
The photorealist Marcus Beilby
Marcus Beilby
Marcus Beilby , is an Australian realist painter. Beilby grew up in the Perth suburb of Mount Pleasant. He was educated at Applecross Senior High School and the Claremont Technical College, where he received a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1975.Beilby was the winner of the 1987 Sir John Sulman Prize for...
won the Sir John Sulman Prize in 1987 with his work Crutching the ewes. Like Shearing the Rams , the painting also depicts men working in a shearing shed, this time in a modern shed using machine shears with overhead gear. Beilby was consciously inspired by Roberts' painting when creating his own updated version. Beilby gave his work the name Crutching the ewes to differentiate it from the earlier painting, despite the fact that it does not depict men crutching
Crutching
Crutching refers to the removal of wool from around the tail and between the rear legs of a sheep. It can also refer to removing wool from the heads of sheep or from the bellies of male sheep .-Motivation:...
sheep but rather shearing them. The cinematography in the 1975 film Sunday Too Far Away
Sunday Too Far Away
Sunday Too Far Away is an Australian feature film which was directed by Ken Hannam and released in 1975. It belongs to the Australian Film Renaissance which occurred during that decade....
was heavily influenced by Shearing the Rams among other Australian paintings.
The shearing shed featured in the painting burned down in a bushfire in 1965, a replica was constructed by the local community on a nearby reserve. A re-enactment of the scene from the painting took place at North Tuppal station near Tocumwal, New South Wales
Tocumwal, New South Wales
Tocumwal is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia in the Berrigan Shire Local Government Area, near the Victorian border. The town is situated on the banks of the Murray River, north of the city of Melbourne. The Newell Highway, part of the main road route between...
in June 2010.
See also
- The Golden FleeceThe Golden Fleece (painting)The Golden Fleece, originally known as Shearing at Newstead, is an 1894 painting by the Australian artist Tom Roberts. The painting depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed at Newstead North, a sheep station near Inverell on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales...
- a later (1894) work on a similar theme.
External links
- Shearing the Rams — National Gallery of Victoria collection
- Culture Victoria – images and video about the restoration of “Shearing the Rams”