Former National Gallery School student Bertram Mackennal was one of the earliest Australian-born artists to pursue a career abroad. He found success in Britain, being elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1909, receiving a knighthood in 1920 and exhibiting at the Royal Academy and Salon on numerous occasions. Influenced by the British New Sculptors of the 1880s, Mackennal’s sculptural works were often imbued with Symbolist themes; however, his portrait busts were far more classical in style.
Swiss‑born Louis Buvelot was considered the colony’s leading landscape painter, and viewed as a role model by many subsequent Australian artists.