In this artwork, how is the Provenance discussed?
Soon after completing Golden Summer, Streeton offered it to Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria for 100 guineas, but received no reply from the museum's trustees. Streeton sent them a second letter, writing sarcastically, "I should be obliged if you would convey to the Trustees my hearty thanks for the interest they have taken in the matter". Scottish shipbuilder Charles Mitchell purchased Golden Summer, Eaglemont on the opening day of the 1892 Paris Salon. It remained part of Mitchell's estate until Streeton re-acquired the painting from the shipbuilder's widow in 1919.
Ahead of its public auction in Australia in 1924, Lionel Lindsay extolled the work in the hope that it would enter a public gallery:
This tranquil landscape, so simply yet so exquisitely fashioned, possesses for Australians a sentiment no other people may equally enjoy. It is the first great Australian landscape, untrammeled by picture making formula, to come from the hand of the native born. It is, therefore, historically the most important landscape in Australia.
A private collector acquired it for 1,000 guineas, then a record for a painting by an Australian artist. Streeton used the money to commission an architect to design and build 'Longacres', a new house and studio in Olinda, outside Melbourne. Golden Summer broke the same sales record in 1995 when the National Gallery of Australia purchased it for $3.5 million. The record has been broken several times since, most recently in 2020 when Henri's Armchair (1974) by Brett Whiteley sold for over $6.1 million.
Paris Salon Brett Whiteley Eaglemont National Gallery of Australia Melbourne Charles Mitchell National Gallery of Victoria Henri's Armchair Olinda guineas Lionel Lindsay