'View of Geelong' for $3 million!

from Wendy
View of Geelong painting for sale $3 million!
Considered the most significant painter of Australia's colonial period, the Austrian-born Eugene von Guérard painted several landscapes in the Geelong region during the period of the Victorian gold rush – in the middle of the 19th century. View of Geelong was described as 'the finest of its kind that has yet been produced in Australia'.

Somehow the composer of Cats and Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber purchased it in 1996 for nearly $2 million, as an investment. His agents are now asking for over $3 for Australians to buy it back!

The Geelong Gallery folk and the local Council now want to purchase it for us in Geelong! They are asking the public to donate generously to add to a government promise of about $800,000.

Well, I don’t think any painting is worth all of that! It is historical of course, pretty, and by an esteemed painter of landscapes from that period. But… what about some living artists who only get $400 for their views of the same piece of land – and include houses, streets, lights, boats, wheat silos, a refinery! I am sure than Mr von Guerard didn’t get much for his sketches, lithographs and paintings in his day!

A nice print of View of Geelong would be enough to keep the local happy for their nostalgia for the ‘good old days’.