''Coming South'' is a

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

painting by the 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 ...

. The painting depicts migrants coming to Australia from Europe aboard a steamship. Roberts based the painting on sketches he had made when returning to Australia aboard the ''SS Lusitania'' in 1885 after four years abroad in Europe. Historian

Humphrey McQueen Humphrey Dennis McQueen (born 26 June 1942) is an Australian political activist, socialist historian and cultural commentator. He is associated with the development of the Australian New Left. His most iconic work, ''A New Britannia'',McQueen, H ...

describes ''Coming South'' as one of Roberts' seven best-known paintings. The

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

describes it as "a definitive image of the migrant experience" and "Roberts's first exploration of one of the great themes of Australian life". The painting was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1967.

References

External links

''Coming South''
– National Gallery of Victoria Paintings by Tom Roberts 1886 paintings Maritime paintings Paintings in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria Works about human migration {{19C-painting-stub