painter and decorator, born Hamilton, Lanarkshire, came to Victoria on board the Loch Long from Glasgow, arriving 3 January 1878, where he established himself as an important Melbourne artist. His paintings include Melbourne from Prospect Hill 1878 (National Gallery of Victoria) As a decorator he painted an overmantel at Mandeville Hall as part of Mr East’s team (completed 1878); he also decorated the pavilion, a cabinet and other furniture for W.H. Rocke at the 1880-81 Melbourne International Exhibition. His major commission, however, was winning the contract to decorate the Exhibition Building itself, which he completed with the assistance of a team of thirty craftsmen led by his compatriot James Paterson of the firm of Paterson Bros (Paterson family scrapbooks, National Library of Australia, manuscript). This apparently enabled Mather to abandon decoration and devote himself 'wholly and solely to an unremitting study of art’ ( Table Talk 2 November 1888, 3: cited Lane), though Lane notes that he was advertising as a decorator in the Age as late as 5 November 1881.
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- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2011
