Young woman in a pale dress and straw hat walking a riverside path with a letter, beneath the trees

The Letter

See it in the 3D Museum View the full image

What you see

A young woman walks along a narrow path beside a river, which lies to the left. She wears a long cream dress and a wide-brimmed hat, and looks down at the letter she holds at her waist. A closed red parasol hangs from her other hand. The trees lean over her and form a kind of arch that frames her.

Light comes from the background and falls on the grassy slope, while the bank on the right sinks into dark reds and browns. The water gleams, almost white, between the branches. Notice the red of the parasol, the brightest colour in the picture, and the slender tree outlined against the river.

About Frederick McCubbin

Frederick McCubbin was born in Melbourne, where his parents ran a bakery, and taught drawing at the National Gallery of Victoria’s art school from 1886 until his death; his friends called him “the Proff” for his love of reading and philosophising. In 1885 he founded the Box Hill artists’ camp with Tom Roberts and Louis Abrahams, the seed of the Heidelberg School, and painted large scenes of life in the Australian bush, using his own family as models. Paintings such as “The Pioneer” and “Down on His Luck” became Australian icons, and many critics consider the works he made after a trip to Europe in 1907 the finest of his career.

All 12 works by Frederick McCubbin