Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Foundation

Restorations

Mrs Wanliss

attributed to John MacLaren Barclay (Scotland, b.1811, d.1886)
Portrait of Jannet Drummond Wanliss c.1860
oil on canvas
Gift of Mr Tom Wanliss, 2005
Painting conserved with funds from Carole & Barrie Coltman, 2011

Mrs Wanliss_before 
Before conservation

 

Mr Wanliss

attributed to John MacLaren Barclay (Scotland, b.1811, d.1886)
Portrait of John Wanliss c.1860
oil on canvas
Gift of Mr Tom Wanliss, 2005
Painting conserved with funds from Carole & Barrie Coltman, 2011

Mr Wanliss_before
Before conservation

These portraits depict the parents of Thomas Drummond Wanliss (-d.1923), the Scottish born founder of the Ballarat Stoor. The Wanliss’ were prosperous farmers in Perthshire, Scotland, in the early Victorian period. T.D. Wanliss returned to Perth for a period of three years in 1861, and these portraits were probably brought back to Ballarat in 1864. Restoration has enabled the works to be attributed to an important Perth based portraitist, John MacLaren Barclay, on the basis of comparison works in Perth Museum and Art Gallery.