Charles Rolando

CHARLES ROLANDO

1844-1893

arrived in Australia in 1885

lived and worked in Melbourne

The campfire on the Ovens River c1885-90

oil on canvas

76cm x 140cm

Acquired in 1986

Charles Rolando was born in Florence, the son of an artist. He showed early ability in painting and studied in Florence as a young man before leaving Italy for England in 1870 and settling in Liverpool where he undertook a number of successful commissions.

Rolando arrived in Melbourne in mid-1885, after a spell of two years in South Africa, bringing with him several South African landscapes which drew immediate attention. In August he opened a studio in Grey Street, East Melbourne, and was soon painting landscapes of the Watts River and Gippsland Lakes country. He became a member of the Australian Artists' Association in 1886.

Considered somewhat of a recluse by Melbourne's artistic society, He died of bronchitis aged 49.

The campfire on the Ovens River demonstrates both a sensitivity in depicting the textures and tones of the Victorian landscape and a feeling for grand vista that distinguish the best of Rolando's work.

Source: Suzanne G. Mellor, 'Rolando, Charles (18441893)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/LVYQC81VY9T6Z0lnUn1D9ag?domain=adb.anu.edu.au, published first in hardcopy 1976, accessed online 11 July 2018