Breaking the news
John LONGSTAFF: artist
Narrative painting – painting which tells a story – was very popular with Australian audiences in the late-nineteenth century. This image of a young woman being told her husband has been killed in a mining accident was painted while Longstaff was still a student at the National Gallery School, Melbourne. It is packed with carefully-observed details, which help the viewer to see the full extent of the tragedy. Breaking the news was judged the best painting in the 1887 students’ competition, winning for Longstaff £150 and a three-year travelling scholarship to study in Europe.
Title
Breaking the news
Artist/Maker and role
John LONGSTAFF: artist
Date
1887
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
109.7 x 152.8 cm
153.5 x 197.0 x 19.0 cm (framed)
153.5 x 197.0 x 19.0 cm (framed)
Credit line
Purchased with funds from the Hackett Bequest Fund, 1933
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
1933/00P4