'Hated' Freda Robertshaw painting that hung up in a family home for decades was secretly worth $1million
- 1940s painting is now worth $1m
- Chef Tracy Nickl almost gave it away to charity
A national treasure of a painting that was unknowingly hung up in a family home for decades will be donated to a museum for all Australians to enjoy.
An artwork called The Bushwalkers hung above the Christmas tree in the Blue Mountains family home of Tracy Nickl's grandparents when he was growing up.
Mr Nickl had no idea of the well-known painting's significance or that it was a lost gem by pioneering Australian artist Freda Robertshaw from the 1940s.
While cleaning out the property following the recent death of his father, Mr Nickl came across his grandparents' beloved art collection.
The award-winning pastry chef from the NSW Southern Highlands originally planned to give away the paintings to charity.
But he had second thoughts and approached his neighbour, leading Australian artist Ben Quilty, who 'begrudgingly' agreed to look at the collection.
Quilty realised its significance as soon as he spotted The Bushwalkers and Robertshaw's signature on the back. He rang an art dealer, who immediately offered $600,000.
Despite being told the painting would sell for up to $1m or more at auction, Mr Nickl and the family have decided to donate the piece to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra in honour of grandparents Joe and Josie.
'My grandfather was someone who collected art, especially Australian art and he liked to know the artist,' Mr Nickl told ABC Illawarra Breakfast.
'It was in my grandparents' house and had been there all my life and all my parents' life.
'We didn't do anything with my grandparents' house until my father passed recently and we had to clear it.'
Mr Nickl's aunt Jo Frater admitted she hated the artwork in her parents' home.
'I never liked the painting. I was never fond of it,' she told Seven News.
Quilty recalled 'begrudgingly' saying yes when he was initially asked to look at the collection.
'What an a******!' Quilty said this week. 'When a valuer told me down the phone line it was worth almost a million dollars, I got a bit teary, for Freda, for the Nickl family.
'But I literally cried when a week later, Tracy came back to my studio to let me know that the whole Nickl family had decided to donate the rare Freda gem to the National Gallery of Australia in memory of their grandparents, Joe and Josie Nickl.'
Quilty regards the artwork as a masterful work by one of the great artists of modernist Australia.
'It was always hung in pride of place, behind the Christmas tree, Tracy told me,' Quility said.
'Grandpa painted the frame to match the architraves!'
'The world doesn't always work right but my goodness Nickl family, you've made my day. Freda would be a happy human today.'
Freda Robertshaw was an Australian artist and painter of neoclassical figures and landscapes. She was also the first Australian female artist to paint a fully nude self-portrait She died in 1997 aged 80.
Mr Nickl has no regrets and said his grandparents' legacy is more important than the money.
'Money doesn't excite me that much to be honest — I was more excited for my grandfather and I always knew he was an amazing craftsman himself and recognised skills in whatever form they were,' he told the ABC.
'It wouldn't be seen again and my grandfather wouldn't have approved of that.'
The painting handed over to the gallery this week is in need of some much-needed repairs.
It will be on display at the National Gallery of Australia from October and could eventually be part of a travelling exhibition across Australia.
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2023-08-11 05:57:18Z
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