John Mather (1848 – 18 February 1916) was a Scottish-Australian plein-air painter and etcher.Judy Blyth, John (1848? - 1916), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, 1986, pp 438-439. Retrieved 2010-04-01
Mather was a Scottish artist who emigrated to Melbourne in 1878. He quickly established himself and became an Associate of the Victorian Academy of Arts, exhibiting his work with the academy and subsequent art associations and societies for many years. Mather exhibited his works in Victoria as well other Australian states and internationally.State Library of Victoria Collection, Various original and copies of Exhibition Catalogues accessed 16 Apr 2024, 7 May 2024, 17 May 2024, 18 May 2024, and 25 Jun 2024. National Gallery of Australia Online record accessed 22 May 2024.
Mather was one of the early practitioners of painting en plein air in Victoria and his work predates that of other better-known plein air artists.She-Oak and Sunlight Australian Impressionism Exhibition Art Work LabelsTable Talk Fri 2 Nov 1888 Page 3 Table Talk.The Age 20 Mar 1885 Page 6 ART NOTES.The Age 24 Apr 1885 p 6 Art NotesThe Age 6 June 1885 Page 15 ART NOTES. Mather practised the Scottish plein-air tradition and the close study of nature.Clemente, C. Australian Watercolours 1802-1926 In the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, 1991, Publisher National Gallery of Victoria After emigrating to Melbourne, he sought to analyse and faithfully represent the light and colour of the Australian landscape. Modifying earlier European tones, his paintings came closer to visual truth than any Australian landscapes produced before the later widespread adoption of plein-air methods.Gleeson J. 1971, Australian Painting Studio Series, Impressionist Painters 1881-1930, p.85 Through his desire to realistically reproduce picturesque scenes, he developed a distinctive and independent artistic style.
Together with other artists, in 1886 he established the Australian Artists Association,The Age 3 Jun 1886 p.7 THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF AUSTRALIAN ART.The Argus 2 Jun 1886 p.7 PROPOSED EXHIBITION OF WORK BY AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS.The Argus 7 Sep 1886 Page 7 Exhibition of the Australian Artists' AssociationThe Age Wed 8 Sep 1886 Page 6 The Australian Artists' AssociationMinute Book of the Australian Artists Association, 1886-1888 which was described as "a distinctively Australian school of landscape painters ... who look at colonial scenery with their own eyes, and not through European spectacles."The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser 18 Sep 1886 p.579 Gossip
Mather worked towards bringing the Academy and Association together to form the Victorian Artists Society in 1888McGrath J. Oct 1974 The Australian Art Association 1912 - 1933 against the social background of the period, p.1 Advanced Librarianship Special Study, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in the State Library of Victoria Collection RA.2022.57 Box 1/2The Argus 14 Mar 1888 Page 5 VICTORIAN ACADEMY OF ARTSChristesen C.B. (Editor) 1970 The Gallery on the Eastern Hill The Victorian Artist Society Centenary and served as its president for many years. In 1892 he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Public Library, Museums and National Gallery of Victoria. John Mather was a member of the Felton Bequest Committee from 1905 to 1916 and as trustee, strongly supported Australian art.
Mather was a landscape painter of considerable reputation during his lifetime,The Age 5 Nov 1932 p. 4 AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS OF THE PASTTopliss H. 1992 The Artist's Camps 'Plein Air Painting in Australia p.23 and was a celebrated teacher.The Age 5 Nov 1932 p4. Australian Artists of the Past However a little more than decade after his death he was almost forgotten.The Argus 28 Sep 1929 Memories of Mather A PAINTER OF SUNSHINE p.5 Mather died on 18 February 1916 and lay in a grave with no memorial until 2023 when a plaque was added to his grave simply stating: Mr John Mather 1848 – 1916 The beauty of his Art endures.Site Visit 18 Aug 2022Site Inspection 5 Aug 2023 The words, his Art endures, refers to his painting and etching but also the art he nurtured as a mentor, teacher and one of the founding fathers of art in Victoria.Commission for plaque 5 Aug 2023
Early life, art education and exhibited works John Mather was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, son of John Mather, a surveyor, and his wife Margaret, née Allan.
Mather spent his youth sketching and painting.Table Talk 2 Nov 1888 p.3 He had access to the art collection of the Duke of Hamilton and was familiar with all the works.The Mail 13 Sep 1913 p.1, A Lifetime of Art When about 15 years old he had his first art lessons with Thomas Fairbairn (1820-1884)
Mather studied at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. He first exhibited there in 1871 with a water colour of old Highland cottages titled A Bit near Calgary Castle - Isle of Mull.Weekly Times 8 Aug 1908 Page 12 The Artists’ PresidentBillcliffe, Roger & Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (1992). The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1861-1989 : a dictionary of exhibitors at the annual exhibitions of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. Vol. 3 L- P Woodend Press, Glasgow p.198 in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia Research Library and Archives pers comm 13 Jun 2025. From Glasgow, Mather went to Edinburgh, where he studied at the school of the National Gallery and "painted 'bits' of the old part of the city, which sold rapidly."The Register 9 Sep 1913 p. 10, Art and an Artist There he exhibited works as painter in annual exhibitions of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1873.Viles M., Soden J. & Stott P., Baille de Laperriere C.(ed), 1991, The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibitors 1826-1990, A Dictionary of Artists and their Work in the Annual Exhibitions of The Royal Scottish Academy Vol 3 L-Q, p.246, in the collection of the Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte Rome
In 1873 – 74, Mather went to Paris and remarked: "I saw the miles of pictures that are to be seen in Paris, and studied them as well as I could." After Paris he went to London, worked and painted as he had done in Edinburgh.
Subsequently, he went back to Scotland and continued at his art. There, whilst residing in Glasgow, he again exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in 1876 and at the Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh in 1877.
Mather's early exhibited works in Glasgow and Edinburgh include:
A Bit near Calgary Castle - Isle of Mull, watercolour, (exhibited 1871) Arthur's Seat from Queens Park (exhibited 1873) Burn Sketches (exhibited 1876), watercolour, Waterfall, Covan Burn, Hamilton (exhibited 1877)
The influence of the Cadzow Forest circle of artists John Mather's first painting was a scene in Cadzow Forest.The Mail Sat 13 Sept 1913 Page 1 A LIFETIME OF ART. His other known works of the Cadzow Forest, all predating his arrival in Melbourne, include:
Cadzow Forest (circa 1871-76) Water colourDoyle Auctioneers & Appraisers 175 East 87th Street, New York, NY, 10128, US, 1989 Auction Belle Epoque including Fine 19th Century Furniture, Paintings and Decorations, Art Nouveau, Art Deco. Lot No.68 “In the Village, Cadzow Forest, and Hot Wind: A Set of Three Watercolors”. Three works, all watercolour on paper, largest 9 x 13.75 inches, one signed, one signed on the reverse, one inscribed Hot Wind, Botanical Gardens, another inscribed Sketch in Cadzow Forest, one dated 1871, one dated 1876 twice, another date Nov. 14, 1878 Cadzow Forest and white cattle (Title unknown) 1876 Water colourNeal Auction Company 8 Dec 2007, Bocage Plantation Lot 151, John Mather 1876 Landscape with sheep [sic] watercolor Cadzow Forest and white cattle (Title unknown) 1877 OilLeonard Joel, 18 Oct 2018, The Thursday Auction - Art Salon Lot 3132: JOHN MATHER, PASTORAL 1877, OIL ON CANVASChristian McCann Auctions, Australia, 2 Dec 2018, Auction The private collection of a Gentleman Lot 157, Oil on canvas depicting cows grazing in the country side 1877 John Mather monogrammed signature Cadzow Forest is an ancient woodland about 2 kilometres south-east of Hamilton. Famous for its centuries-old oaks and herd of white cattle. In the mid-19th century, the Cadzow Forest became a major destination for Scottish landscape painters, comparable to the Forest of Fontainebleau for the painters of the Barbizon School.National Galleries of Scotland, A Glade in Cadzow Forest by Alexander Fraser, the younger Accessed at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/4922 3 June 2026.
Thomas Fairbairn, Mather's first teacher, was an art teacher and prominent water colourist who moved to Hamilton in 1853, possibly to be near the oak tree forest of Cadzow.Electric Scotland Art in Scotland Thomas Fairbairn at https://electricscotland.com/art/artinscotland18o.htm accessed 6 Jun 2026.Glasgow Life/ Collections/ Art and Design https://libcat.csglasgow.org/web/arena/art-and-design-subject accessed 20 May 2024Gilpin, S., 1905, SAM BOUGH, SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS, Pub. London: George Bell & Sons, York House, Portugal Street, W.C. pp.87-89 at Internet Archive https://archive.org/stream/samboughrsasomea00gilp/samboughrsasomea00gilp_djvu.txt accessed 5 Jun 2026 Fairbairn was celebrated as a literal reproducer of nature. He meticulously captured the textures of the ancient oaks, mosses, and woodland streams without romanticising or altering them. Fairbairn was widely regarded as a watercolourist, bringing a soft, precise touch to paintings of the forest landscape.Electric Scotland Art in Scotland Thomas Fairbairn at https://electricscotland.com/art/artinscotland18o.htm accessed 6 Jun 2026.
Other artists that painted in the Cadzow Forest included:
Samuel Bough (1822–1878),National Galleries of Scotland, Samuel Bough at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/samuel-bough accessed 6 Jun 2026 Alexander Fraser the Younger (1827–1899),National Galleries of Scotland, A Glade in Cadzow Forest by Alexander Fraser, the younger Accessed at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/4922 3 June 2026 and Horatio McCulloch (1805–1867).National Galleries of Scotland, A Glade in Cadzow Forest by Alexander Fraser, the younger Accessed at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/4922 3 June 2026 In 1913 Mather remarked that he had recently built a studio named Cadzow in memory of the forest and his first painting.
Arrival and establishment in Melbourne Emigrating to Melbourne in January 1878,The Argus 3 Jan 1878 p.4 SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. John Mather listed his occupation as Painter using the nomenclature of the Royal Glasgow Institute and the Royal Scottish Academy at that time.Loch Long Passenger List 8 October 1877 Less than 12 months later, on 3 December 1878, John Mather was elected as an Associate of the Victorian Academy of Arts.The Argus 9 Dec 1878 p.5 MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1878.
In April 1879 he exhibited 11 works at the Annual Exhibition of the Victorian Academy of ArtsVictorian Academy of Arts, Apr 1879, The Ninth Exhibition of the Victorian Academy of Arts Catalogue and was noted as a large exhibitor.The Australasian Sat 19 Apr 1879 Page 21 FINE ARTS. He exhibited two oils, Yarra Flats and Evening on the Yarra, and nine watercolours, A Woodland Path Scotland; Sketch near Essendon; Spring-time Scotland; Sketch on Brighton Beach; Lagoon, Yarra Flats; On the Tamar, Tasmania; Old Cottage, Argyllshire Scotland; Old Huts, Isle of Mull, Scotland and A Grey Day, Glen Falloch, Scotland.