Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Self portrait with gladioli

1922
George Lambert

oil on canvas (frame: 156.6 cm x 133.0 cm depth 14.0 cm, sight: 128.2 cm x 102.8 cm)

George Lambert (1873–1930), artist, was a jackeroo before moving to Sydney to work as an illustrator and attend art school. After winning the first New South Wales Society of Artists' Travelling Scholarship in 1900 he studied and worked in Paris and London, becoming an Associate of the Royal Academy and remaining abroad until 1921. The only official war artist of the First World War to be appointed to the rank of Honorary Captain, he produced immense, violent paintings of the landing at Gallipoli and the charge of the Light Horse at Beersheba.

Although he looks relaxed and elegant, at the time Self portrait with gladioli was painted Lambert was suffering periodic attacks of exhaustion brought on by his gruelling schedule of painting and lecturing. He remarked to his wife that this work, one of several self portraits, 'cost him dearly in money and swat'. After Lambert's death, his London-based son, Maurice, angrily described the painting as a 'brilliant piece of technique' with which his father 'disguised from the mediocre but revealed to the sensitive just what a few years in Australia had done to him'. Over the ensuing years Lambert spent what remained of his energy working relentlessly on portraits and sculptures. He died of heart failure while attending to his horse at Cobbitty in May 1930.

Gift of John Schaeffer AO 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.
Audio description icon

Audio description

3 minutes 34 seconds
Show transcript

Artist and subject

George Lambert (age 49 in 1922)

Subject professions

Visual arts and crafts

Donated by

John Schaeffer AO (1 portrait)

© National Portrait Gallery 2023
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency