Works included in this catalogue
Altson (M.) Monochrome Head of Horse {1899} Loc? [PA]
Altson (M.) Study from the nude {1904} Loc? [PA]
Daniel Meyer Altson, the younger brother of Aby Altson, studied at the Melbourne gallery’s art school from 1894-1902. His oil sketch of a horse’s head, presumably after the pre-Felton collection’s plaster cast from the Elgin marbles original, earnt him first prize for a work after the antique, in 1899.
In 1902, he won the NGV Travelling Scholarship and went to Paris, painting Circe (NGV 1906) and a copy supposedly after van Dyck (also in the NGV) in fulfilment of the conditions of the scholarship: neither of these works is catalogued here, given that they are Felton-era acquisitions.
Several of his later portraits, of himself and others, are also in the NGV. From 1925, he lived in London.
Refs.
For the artist, see https://www.daao.org.au/bio/daniel-meyer-altson/ (with a short biography); see also AKL 2 (1986), p.447 (entry by Bernard Smith), and Bénézit 1, p.371. For his works in the NGV, see http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/533/