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Glasgow, Scotland 1877 – Clydebank', Essendon, Melbourne , Victoria, Australia 1906
Life models were an expense that Hugh Ramsay, like many expatriate artists, could not often afford outside their classes at the most popular Académies; Delécluze, Colarossi or Julian. To quench his voracious desire to paint and experiment at every opportunity, Ramsay often depicted himself.
This is one of over twenty-five self-portraits painted by Ramsay during a period of three years. His bravura brush work and bold use of white paint reveal his growing admiration for London-based, American painter John Singer Sargent’s sumptuous society portraits painted during the late nineteenth century and into the Edwardian era.
Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010
