Halswelle Green-robed Senators {1904} NGV [PA]

Halswelle, Keeley (1832-91; Scottish)
Green-robed Senators (c.1880)
Oil on canvas, 65.8 x 39.5 cm
Bequest of Alfred Felton, 1904 
National Gallery of Victoria (148-2)

The earliest of three landscapes by Halswelle acquired for the NGV before 1905 (although the last to be acquired), this canvas was selected from Felton’s own collection.

The title derives from Keats: “Those green-robed senators of mighty woods, // Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars, // Dream, and so dream all night without a stir”(Hyperion, i).

Refs.

AR 1904, p.26; NGV 1905, p.93 (III.McArthur Gallery, no.45) 

The NGV catalogue entry quotes the Keats source, and also provides details of the earlier history of the work, purchased by a Victorian collector from a London dealer in 1897, and then bought for Felton’s collection in about 1901