When Artvisory was invited to catalogue the collection of Peter Yunghanns at Yaloak Estate in Victoria, one painting immediately stood out -a beautifully painted Australian impressionist river view by A.H Fullwood. The image evokes the famous painting 'The Purple Noon's Transparent Might' by Sir Arthur Streeton and this turned out to be not just a passing observation by the cataloguer, as after detailed research, with the aid of Dr Gary Werskey, who had recently published his authoritative work on A.H Fullwood, it can now be proven that this painting is none other than the work first exhibited by A.H Fullwood at the NSW Society of Artist's exhibition of 1896 and bought by the then Governor of NSW, Lord Hampden. It also pre-dates two of Streeton's most famous river paintings and thereby reveals that A.H Fullwood had a major influence on his friend the young Arthur Streeton, not just the other way around. Further research also revealed that this same work had been sold by Sotheby's Australia back in 1986, but was incorrectly titled The Hawkesbury, instead of the correct title: 'An Australian River'.
The painting fetched a record price when sold in 1986 and it will be very interesting to see what it sells for in February 2023, nearly a quarter of a century later - now correctly titled and fully researched.
An important artwork discovery- An Australian River. A.H Fullwood (1863-1930) and his friendship with Sir Arthur Streeton
