The national game

An effect is only momentary ... it has been the object of the artists to render faithfully, and thus obtain first records of effects widely differing, and often of very fleeting character'.
- The 9 by 5 Exhibition of Impressions catalogue 1889

'The national game' was exhibited in the influential '9 by 5 impression exhibition' held at Buxton's Gallery in Swanston Street, Melbourne, in August 1889. The exhibition included paintings that would normally have been considered preliminary sketches for larger works and consequently unsuitable for public exhibition. It proved to be central to the development of the Heidelberg school of Australian 'impressionism', a turning point in the history of Australian landscape painting.