Louis Buvelot

Louis Buvelot
born Switzerland 1814; arrived Australia 1865; died 1888

On the Woods Point Road 1872
oil on canvas
Geelong Gallery
Purchased 1949

Louis Buvelot was an influential figure in 19th century Australian art, as a teacher and advocate for the European traditions of en plein air painting. Arriving in Melbourne in 1865, he made many sketching tours of Victoria and the Western District, often favouring the countryside close to Melbourne.

On the Woods Point Road was painted at a time when Buvelot was considered the colony’s leading landscape artist. It depicts an everyday exchange within the landscape: travellers on horseback and within a coach traverse a muddy track, while further signs of settlement of the area north-east of Melbourne are evident through the clearing with the peaks of the Great Dividing Range in the distance.