Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly is one of the earliest of Nolan's Kelly paintings, created the same year that the artist first travelled to Kelly country in north-east Victoria. It depicts the solitary figure of Ned Kelly, in his home-made armour against a sparse landscape, its horizon interrupted by a densely-wooded hill with a small cabin (the Glenrowan Inn) in the foreground. Although Kelly boldly confronts the viewer, his stance is awkward, almost puppet-like, and it is a sharp contrast to the more confident and confrontational portraits of Kelly elsewhere in this series.