At Lilydale

Swiss-born Abram Louis Buvelot emigrated to Australia as a mature artist in 1864. The new world was not unfamiliar to him, having lived in Rio de Janeiro for twelve years, but his original training was profoundly related to the French Barbizon school. In Melbourne, where he settled for the remainder of his life, his work exerted a strong influence on the evolution of the Heidelberg artists. Roberts, McCubbin and Streeton in particular responded to his encouragement towards a more intimate engagement with nature, accrediting him as the true ‘father’ of Australian landscape painting.

Many Swiss came to Australia during the early years of the colony in Victoria, encouraged by the fact that its first Superintendent Charles La Trobe married the daughter of an aristocratic family from Neuchâtel. Two of Mrs La Trobe’s compatriots, Hubert de Castella and Baron Guillaume de Pury, established wineries in the Lilydale area, and later Buvelot was a frequent visitor. Here with his Swiss friends he freely spoke French – his only language – and was able to paint some of his most beautiful, sundrenched subjects in the region.