Study of the artist's wife and son

A study of the artist's wife Marie-Thérèse and his only son Vasco (b.1882). Loureiro was born in Portugal in 1853 and migrated to Melbourne in 1884, accompanied by his son and Australian wife. His plein air style was celebrated by local reviewers and artists. He was a founding member of the Australian Artist's Association alongside prominent artists including McCubbin, Roberts and Ashton. In 1891 he was nominated as a candidate for the position of Director of the National Gallery of Victoria, but ill health prevented him from accepting. He returned to Europe in 1904. Loureiro was predeceased by his wife (d.1907) and Vasco who was killed in the First World War. See the The seamstress's reverie, 1887 (NGV) for a similar interior work, and for an earlier painting of Vasco, also painted in 1887, see Two friends (Vasco and his dog Baron) sold Christie's Sydney, 31 Oct. 1990, lot 138.