Acquired from Olive Goldie by current owner, by descent

In 1883 the young Goldie was enrolled at Auckland Grammar School. His youthful artistic talents shone, and it was not long before he was winning prizes at the Auckland Society of Arts. On leaving school Louis John Steele became his mentor and tutor. Two of the young artist’s still life paintings so impressed Sir George Grey, that he convinced David Goldie to allow his 22 year old son to attend the Académie Julian in Paris.

In July 1893, at the age of 22, Goldie enrolled at the cosmopolitan Académie Julian. For four and a half years, until January 1898, he studied in the studio supervised by the eminent Salon painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. He also enjoyed tuition from lesser-known masters, including Gabriel Ferrier, and attended anatomy classes at the École des Beaux-Arts. Goldie won regular prizes in the studio competitions and in 1896 was awarded a gold medal for life painting. He undertook the customary copying of old masters in the Louvre and other galleries, and visited Great Britain, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Italy. Although a number of other New Zealand artists studied art in Paris, few stayed for more than a year or two. Charles Goldie was the only one of his generation to undertake the full rigours of French academic training.

Auckland Art Gallery, Goldie Exhibition, 28 June - 28 October 1997. Cat. no.42

ILLUSTRATED
Roger Blackley, Goldie, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki (David Bateman, 1997) pg.77