Seventy years ago on that day he will have been dead for 70 years. But better not uncork the champagne too early as such are the quirks of the Artists Resale Royalty Act introduced on June 9 2010 that the 70 years during which Australians have to pay resale royalty does not end until December 31, 2013, the last day of year in which he died.
There is still very little time left for any Streeton works which have not sold during the period following the introduction of the act (during which sellers receive the one free sale for which the works are entitled), but collectors appear to be relaxing in anticipation not just of the elimination of payment but the reporting and paper work that goes with it.
Given Streeton can sell for very high prices and is a perennial favourite, this will remove the biggest name in Australian Impressionist and traditional art from a process that many have found exceedingly tedious and unnecessary.
The resale royalty or droit de suite was designed to encourage young especially indigenous artists. Streeton, of course, was none of these. Any deserving family members of the artist's family must now also be far removed from him.
The elimination of the levy may help explain the drift back to the market of many works by the artist in the next round of auctions as it does a faint stirring of the traditional market.
Bonhams Australia has featured his work on the catalogue (not yet available but up on the Internet) of its sale in Melbourne on August 20 and it appears to be the most expensive painting in the auction.
Topographically the painting could only be sold in Melbourne as it involves a lot of love for the city. It is, to use a word favoured by Bonhams Australia's managing director Mr James Hendy, "iconic".
It is Between the Lights - Princes Bridge painted in 1888. The whopping 84 by 155 cm oil on canvas hung in the Commercial Travellers Club, Melbourne from 1914 to 1971 when it was consigned to Melbourne auction house Leonard Joel. It now has a substantial (if not for its size) AU$ 1 million - 1.5 million estimate.
The painting was with Melbourne runner and art visionary the late Neville Healy until 1985.
Another even larger Streeton, a view of Sydney Harbour commissioned for a vice-regal, is reported to be in play in London and could also be headed for the market.
Although sales of Streeton this year to date have been running at only $775,000 many more are believed to be in the pipeline especially via Deutscher + Hackett (Sydney August 28) which is understandable.
This is because the company can point out that it set the auction record of $2.52 million for the artist when it sold The Settlers Camp in 2008. That sale helped to explain the record turnover for Streeton that year of $4.58 million.
For the last eight years his turnover has been over $1 million every year.
Streeton's works may have some way top go, however, as a dealer recently bought at auction a very presentable one of his still lives for less than a price of a Margaret Olley.
What Bonhams clients may have gained on the roundabouts it has lost on the swings following the adoption of Australian citizenship by Lady Mary Nolan.
Bonhams also has 64 works from Nolan's estate which, by the matter of just a few weeks, have lost their free-of-the first sale status when they go under the hammer, the royalty being payable on sales after that.
