Works included in this catalogue
Coates Motherhood {1904} NGV [PA]
Coates after Correggio Marriage of St Catherine {1899} NGV [PA]
Coates after van Dyck Portrait of a Father with his Son {1900} NGV [PA]
Coates won the NGV Travelling Scholarship in 1896, producing the three works listed above under the terms of that award. He went on to lead a successful career in London as a traditional portraitist; the NGV collection includes various examples of his later work, acquired after 1905.
In London in 1903, he married Australian painter Dora Meeson (1869-1955), now generally regarded as a more significant figure in the history of Australian art during the period. Grishin suggests that she assisted Coates with his paintings.
Refs.
For Coates, see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/coates-george-james-5693(by Richard Haese, from ADB vol.8, 1981; with further references; also discussing Meeson); AKL 20 (1998), pp.18-19 (entry by Daniel Thomas); and Grishin, Australian Art(2013), esp.pp.167 (Coates) and 198-99 (Meeson). For works by Coates in the NGV, see http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/1499/