Mervyn Napier Waller Portrait of Christian Waller

This painting is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia with the title Christian Waller with Baldur, Undine and Siren at Fairy Hills.

Christian Waller (nee Yandell, 1894–1954) was Napier Waller’s wife. A successful artist, she was renowned for her book illustrations, prints, murals and stained glass window designs. Her work is held in major public collections, including the Art Gallery of NSW. Baldur, Undine and Siren were the Wallers’ Airedale terriers.

Napier Waller is renowned for his public art commissions, in particular his stained-glass windows and mosaics at the Australian War Memorial. A student at Melbourne’s National Gallery School under Frederick McCubbin, his training was cut short when he enlisted in 1915, the same year he married Christian. Sent to France, he fought on the Bullecourt battlefield in May 1917 and was seriously wounded, losing his right arm. He quickly learned to draw with his left.

His Archibald portrait of Christian was painted the year he completed his first monumental mosaic for the University of Western Australia, after their travels through Europe in 1929–30. Christian was about to publish The great breath, a book of linocuts hand-printed in the couple’s arts and crafts–style home, seen in this painting.