''Bourke Street'' is a 1886 painting by Australian artist

Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe i ...

. Roberts originally titled the work ''Allegro con brio''. The painting depicts the western end of

Bourke Street Bourke Street is one of the main streets in the Melbourne central business district and a core feature of the Hoddle Grid. It was traditionally the entertainment hub of inner-city Melbourne, and is now also a popular tourist destination and tr ...

, one of the main thoroughfares in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

as seen from the

Buckley & Nunn Buckley & Nunn (also known as Buckley's) was a department store in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It first opened its doors in 1851 as a drapery store and, in its heyday, competed creditably as a department store with Myer (1900). It occupied ...

drapery. The work was painted a few months after Roberts' return to Australia in 1885, after he had spent four years in Europe . It was not displayed until 1890, and only five days beforehand, Roberts added three female figures to the lower left. Roberts was unable to find a buyer and handed the painting to fellow artist,

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

. In 1920, McCubbin's widow sold the painting to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library for 20

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...

—forwarding the proceeds to Roberts, who was in London at the time.

References

External links

''Tom Roberts Allegro con brio: Bourke Street west''
Turner to Monet: The Triumph of Landscape Paintings by Tom Roberts Collections of the National Gallery of Australia 1886 paintings {{Melbourne-stub