Charcoal burners (previously known as Wood splitters) is a 1886 painting by the Australian artist Tom Roberts.[1] The painting depicts three rural labourers "splitting and stacking timber for the preparation of charcoal".[1] Roberts, influenced by the Barbizon school and Jules Bastien-Lepage, would later return to the theme of rural men working in his works A break away! and Shearing the Rams.[1]
| Charcoal burners | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Tom Roberts |
| Year | 1886 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 61.4 cm × 92.3 cm (24.2 in × 36.3 in) |
| Location | Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat |
Roberts painted the picture from sketches made at a camp he made with Frederick McCubbin at Box Hill, then a rural locality east of Melbourne.[1]
The painting was acquired by the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 1961.[1]
The work was stolen from the gallery in 1978. A ransom was paid the following year for the safe recovery of the painting from a park in Sydney.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Tom Roberts: Wood splitters". Australian collection. Art Gallery of Ballarat. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
- ^ Cansdale, Dominic (1 June 2021). "How Wood Splitters art heist from Ballarat helped change regional art galleries forever". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
External links
edit- Wood splitters Archived 1 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine – Art Gallery of Ballarat
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