John Mather Scotland, Australia, 1848-1916
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by John Mather
Auction Houses
About John Mather
Born in Hamilton, Scotland in 1848, Mather worked as a house painter then studied art at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts prior to his arrival in Australia in 1878. In 1880, Mather assisted in the decoration of the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne. During his career he was a founding member and president of the Victorian Artists' Society and a trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria. Mather is best known for his impressionistic landscapes, usually of the Victorian coastal areas. His works are represented in many state and provincial galleries and in several overseas collections.
John Mather is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1969 of 575, of which 386 (67%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $42,838 for The Artist at His Easel (Louis Abrahams) sold by Christies in September 2013. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by John Mather are held by the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and a further four major public national galleries (see list below).
John Mather is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 667
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 342
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
No, ineligible. The artist has been deceased for more than 70 years.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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