After the Armistice: Longing for the Sunshine

Kelly Lenehan
“Never in my life have I seen such a real demonstration of joy. People were dancing and singing, bands were playing and the gloom that had hung over the world for over four years had completely gone. I felt glad that I had lived to see the day, and it was a sight worth three and a half years of one’s life to see.”[1]

Ray, Dorothy, Vic, and Rosie. London 1919
Figure 1: Ray, Dorothy, Vic, and Rosie. London 1919. UMA Ray Jones Collection Unit 1981.0081.00275

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Life imitates art: The Three Graces (1776)

From painting, to print, to pic

Thomas Waston after Joshua Reynolds, "The Three Graces Decorating a Terminal Figure of Hymen", 1776.
Thomas Waston after Joshua Reynolds, “The Three Graces Decorating a Terminal Figure of Hymen”, 1776.

The Three Graces, housed in the Print Collection, is a 1776 print by Thomas Watson (1750-1781) after a 1773 painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). The large print was created using the mezzotint method. Mezzotint involves scraping and polishing the surface of a copper or steel plate engraving to create different tones with both soft shades and rich blacks. This technique was used often in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries for the reproduction of paintings, particularly portraits. The original painting was titled Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen and it was commissioned by the politician Luke Gardiner, who was engaged to Elizabeth Montgomery, one of the three women depicted. Currently, it is part of the Tate collection.

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Soldier Tourism in the Ray Jones Collection

Meghan Conrick

Ray Jones, 1918
Ray Jones, 1918. University of Melbourne Archives, Ray Jones collection, 1981.0081.00004

Over the last century the First World War has fascinated Australians and this interest continues to breathe new life into the personal collections of soldiers of the war. These collections attest to the personal experience of warfare in lands far away from home – of the monotony of soldier life, the exhilaration and terror of battle, as well as the excitement at the prospect of travel offered by military service. The Ray Jones collection allows us not only to explore the war through a personal and intimate lens but lends itself to a consideration of the broader trend of travel enthusiasm that took hold of many Australian service personnel in the First World War. Continue reading “Soldier Tourism in the Ray Jones Collection”


More than just a print collection

Melbourne University Doctoral candidate Louise Voll Box writes in her newly published article that there is much to be revealed by examining the “lives” of the Baillieu Library’s Northumberland print albums.

Richard Houston (after Joshua Reynolds), Elizabeth Countess of Northumberland, Baroness Percy, Lucy, Poynings, Fitzpain, Bryan, and Latimer, c. 1759. Mezzotint
Richard Houston (after Joshua Reynolds), Elizabeth Countess of Northumberland, Baroness Percy, Lucy, Poynings, Fitzpain, Bryan, and Latimer, c. 1759. Mezzotint

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