ABSTRACT
Throughout the early history of the Australian national galleries, many trustees and advisers campaigned for modern work to be prioritised in acquisition policies. From 1860 onwards, the Pre-Raphaelites were the most obvious candidates for such a policy when considering British art. The history of the attempts to obtain their artworks not only reveals how cutting-edge recalibrations of the British art canon impacted on Australian art museum practices, but also demonstrates how Anglo-Australian cultural relations were affected by Federation. Examination of archival holdings also allows for a fundamental reassessment of previous art historical assumptions about collecting Pre-Raphaelite art in Australia.
