115 year old missing painting 'Found'

Some time ago we did a story on Frederick McCubbin, covering the life of the great Australian painter, including his well-known tryptych, The Pioneer, which was painted in 1904 and now hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

In 2020 an interesting discovery was made public by the NGV in regards to the painting.

"Until recently, no one knew that when they were admiring this painting," said a NGV spokesperson on their Facebook page, "they were actually looking at two."

Back in 2020, Head of Conservation, Michael Varcoe-Cocks was doing his rounds, when he noticed, after shining a torch on The Pioneer, there was a curved line he hadn't seen before. It wasn't visible under standard lights and it wasn't a crack, tear or part of the brushwork.

"X-ray analysis revealed something no one thought was possible," said the NGV's Facebook page.

"Hidden beneath the layers was the long lost painting Found."

The post on the National Gallery of Victoria's Facebook page showing the painting that had been lost for over 100 years. Courtesy NGV.

Appropriately named, the painting Found shows a bushman holding a small child. It was only known about due to the one small black and white photograph that had been located in McCubbin's scrapbook. It had been painted around 1892.

"What's interesting is, Found wasn't abandoned completely," said Varco Cocks to the Sunrise program in 2020. "He actually incorporated part of the original canvas into this canvas, so some of the picture in 1893 is here. It migrates from one to the other."

A painting within a painting. Incorporated rather than just painted over. Courtesy NGV.

References

• 'Long lost Frederick McCubbin artwork found hidden inside another painting at National Gallery of Victoria', 7news.com.au, accessed 13th May, 2025, Long lost Frederick McCubbin artwork found hidden inside another painting at National Gallery of Victoria | 7NEWS

• National Gallery of Victoria, Facebook, accessed 13th May, 2025, Facebook