Easel set used by Sir William Dargie

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Easels
Place: London, England
Materials: Metal - non specific, Paint - non specific, Wood
Collection: Lady Mary Hamilton Fairley collection
Accession number: 2010.0013.0001

Description

A portable wooden easel set, consisting of a folding easel with a latched compartment containing a wooden palette, a removable tray with dividers, and two metal paint pots.

Lefranc & Co were a French supplier of artists' materials based established in London in 1906.

About the collection

This collection comprises thirty three brushes, two palettes, two metal pots and an easel belonging to Australian artist Sir William Dargie (1912-2003) which were used to paint a replica copy of his famous 1954 depiction of Queen Elizabeth II, also held within the Museum's National Historical Collection (NHC). The collection was stored at the home of Dargie's friends, Sir Neil (1891-1966) and Lady Mary Hamilton Fairley (1902-1998) and used for several London-based commissions during the 1950s. This collection lends valuable insight into Dargie's working life, in particular his traditional approach to portraiture and the creative processes involved in one of his most significant commissions. The 'Wattle Painting', as it became known, was well received by the Australian public and became one of the most treasured examples of 20th century Australian portraiture. Representative of artistic production and creative processes, this collection also provides the opportunity to examine patronage of the Australian arts during the 1950s.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 7:06:43 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-23. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.