Collection Online
The lane moonrise
Medium
watercolour
Measurements
28.5 × 33.0 cm (image) 31.1 × 34.0 cm irreg. (sheet)
Place/s of Execution
Victoria
Inscription
inscribed in pen and brown ink (in image) l.l.: R. W. STURGESS
Accession Number
2010.499
Department
Australian Prints & Drawings
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Ralph Ward-Ambler AM and Barbara Ward-Ambler through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2010
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work

At the age of fifteen, R.W. Sturgess enrolled at the National Gallery School, where he was taught by artists including Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall. This watercolour was painted when he was only seventeen years old and halfway through his studies. The reclusive Sturgess painted atmospheric watercolours in subtle tones while sitting outdoors for hours on end in his favourite locations, including the Malmsbury district and his native Williamstown. Unfortunately, his career was short-lived: after a car accident in 1926 he struggled with his health and by 1930 his failing eyesight forced him to give up painting.