Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton ( 8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943 ) was an Australian landscape painter . Early life . Streeton was born in Mount Duneed , near Geelong , and his family moved to Richmond in 1874 . His parents had met on the voyage from England in 1854 . In 1882 , Streeton commenced art studies with G . F . Folingsby at the National Gallery School . Streeton was influenced by French Impressionism and the works of Turner . During this time he began his association with fellow artists Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts — at Melbourne including at Box Hill and Heidelberg . In 1885 Streeton presented his first exhibition at the Victorian Academy of Art . He found employment as an apprentice lithographer under Charles Troedel . Career . Eaglemont camp , Heidelberg . In the summer drought of 1888 , Streeton travelled by train to the attractive agricultural and grazing suburb of Heidelberg , 11 km north - east of Melbourne ' s city center . His intention was to walk the remaining distance to the site where Louis Buvelot painted his 1866 work " Summer afternoon near Templestowe " , which was , according to Streeton , " the first fine landscape painted in Victoria " . On the return journey to Heidelberg , wet canvas in hand , Streeton met Charles Davies , brother - in - law of friend and fellow " plein air " painter David Davies . Charles gave him " artistic possession " of an abandoned homestead atop the summit of Mount Eagle estate , offering spectacular views across the Yarra Valley to the Dandenongs . For Streeton , Eaglemont ( as it became known ) was the ideal working environment — a reasonably isolated rural location that was still close to the city . The house itself could be seen by visitors as they arrived at Heidelberg railway station . Streeton spent the first few nights at Eaglemont alone with the estate ' s tenant farmer Jack Whelan ( who posed for Streeton ' s " pioneer " painting " The selector ' s hut ( Whelan on the log ) " , 1890 ) , and slept upon the floor , the rooms being bare of furniture . The house was " creaking and ghostly . A long dark corridor seemed full of past visions , and out of doors a blurred rich blackness against the sharp brilliance of the Southern Cross . . . But tobacco and wine weighed healthily against the darkness " . He descended the hill daily to Heidelberg village for meals before jaunting into the bush with a billycan of milk and swag of paints and canvases . The first artists to paint with Streeton at Eaglemont were the National Gallery students Aby Altson and John Llewelyn Jones , followed by John Mather and Walter Withers . Like Streeton , Withers painted from nature amidst suburban bush around Melbourne , employing earthy colours with loose , impressionistic brushstrokes . By the end of 1888 he became a weekend visitor to the camp . About the same time , Streeton met the artist Charles Conder , who travelled down from Sydney in October 1888 at the invitation of Tom Roberts . One year Streeton ' s junior , Conder was already a committed " plein airist " , and was heavily influenced by the painterly techniques of expatriate impressionist Girolamo Nerli . Conder and Roberts joined Streeton at Eaglemont in January 1889 and helped make some modest improvements to the house . Despite austere living conditions , Streeton was content : " Surrounded by the loveliness of the new landscape , with heat , drought , and flies , and hard pressed for the necessaries of life , we worked hard , and were a happy trio . " Streeton and Conder quickly became friends and influenced one another ' s art . Their shared love of South Australia n poet Adam Lindsay Gordon ' s lyrical verse is revealed in the titles of some of their Eaglemont paintings , including Streeton ' s romantic gloaming work " ′ Above us the great grave sky ′ " ( 1890 , taken from Gordon ' s poem " Doubtful Dreams " ) . Later , critics would mistake some of the pair ' s Eaglemont paintings as companion pieces , as both artists often painted the same views and subjects using a high - keyed " gold and blue " palette , which Streeton considered " nature ' s scheme of colour in Australia " . Two of Streeton ' s best - known works were painted during this period — " Golden Summer , Eaglemont " ( 1889 ) and " ′ Still glides the stream , and shall for ever glide ′ " ( 1890 ) — each a sunlit pastoral scene of golden - paddocked plains stretching to the distant blue Corhanwarrabul . In 1891 , Arthur and Emma of the Boyd artistic dynasty took " Golden Summer , Eaglemont " to Europe where it became the first painting by an Australian - born artist to be exhibited at the Royal Academy , London , and was awarded a " Mention honorable " at the 1892 Paris Salon . Travels to England . In 1897 Streeton sailed for London on the " Polynesien " , stopping at Port Said before continuing on via Cairo and Naples . He held an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1900 and became a member of the Chelsea Arts Club in 1903 . Although he had developed a considerable reputation in Australia , he failed to achieve the same success in England . His trips to London were financed by the sales of his paintings at home in Australia . His time in England reinforced a strong sense of patriotism towards the British Empire and , like many , anticipated the coming war with Germany with some enthusiasm . In 1906 , Streeton returned to Australia and completed some paintings at Mount Macedon in February 1907 before going back to London in October . Paintings done in Venice in September 1908 were exhibited in Australia in July 1909 as " Arthur Streeton ' s Venice " . In Australia again in April 1914 he held exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne and went back to England in early 1915 . War artist . Along with other members of the Chelsea Arts Club , including Tom Roberts , he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps ( British Army ) at the age of 48 . He worked at the 3rd London General Hospital in Wandsworth and reached the rank of corporal . Streeton was made an Australian Official War Artist with the Australian Imperial Force , holding the rank of Honorary Lieutenant , and he travelled to France on 14 May 1918 and was attached to the 2nd Division , receiving his movement order on 8 May 1918 . He worked in France , with a break in August , until October 1918 . Expected by the Commonwealth to produce sketches and drawings that were " descriptive " , Streeton concentrated on the landscape of the scenes of war and did not attempt to convey the human suffering . Unlike the more famous military art depicting the definitive moments of battle , Streeton produced " military still life " , capturing the everyday moments of the war . Streeton explained what was at that time an unconventional point - of - view — a perspective which was based in experience : Two paintings from this period — " Villers Bretonneux " ( 1918 ) and " Boulogne " — ( 1918 ) are in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales . Later years . After the war , Streeton resumed painting in the Grampians and Dandenong Ranges . Streeton built a house on five acres ( 20 , 000 m² ) at Olinda in the Dandenongs where he continued to paint . He won the Wynne Prize in 1928 with " Afternoon Light , Goulburn Valley " . He was an art critic for " The Argus " from 1929 to 1935 and in 1937 was knight ed for services to the arts . He married Esther Leonora Clench , a Canadian violinist , in 1908 . Streeton died in September 1943 . He is buried at Fern Tree Gully cemetery . Streeton Primary School in the Melbourne suburb of Yallambie is named after Streeton . Prices . Streeton ' s paintings are amongst the most collectible of Australian artists and attracted high prices during his lifetime . " Golden Summer , Eaglemont " sold for around 1000 guineas in 1924 and in the 1980s it was bought in a private sale by the National Gallery of Australia for US $ 3 . 5 million , both times setting a sales record for an Australian painting . In 1985 , " Settler ' s Camp " sold at auction for A $ 800 , 000 and this remained the record auction price for Streeton ' s work until 23 May 2005 , when his 1890 painting , " Sunlight Sweet , Coogee " , was sold for A $ 2 . 04 million ( A $ 1 . 853 million before tax ) , becoming only the second painting by an Australian artist to exceed the A $ 2 million mark at auction ( after Frederick McCubbin ' s " Bush Idyll " which sold for A $ 2 . 3 million in 1998 ) . The painting was part of the Foster ' s Group collection and was sold at auction by Sotheby ' s . Streeton ' s works appear in many major Australian galleries and museums , including the Australian War Memorial , National Gallery of Victoria , the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia .