1928 -29
Egg tempera on canvas on board
51 x 45.5 cm
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Murch wrote of George Lambert’s reaction to the painting: “By 1928 I had made a pilgrimage and stood beside Piero della Francesca and Fra Angelico, while I painted in egg tempera, The White Calf, a picture which pleased Lambert. I remember Lambert trying to convince Julian Ashton that I had not had an inspirational vision, but had built the picture as a structure in the light of ancient tradition. But for this interchange between the master, Julian Ashton , and his pupil, George Lambert, I could not have memory of the impact of this early, totally unAustralian, picture.”
