Alan Baker Dr Mervyn W Matheson
oil on masonite
100 x 91 cm (original), 48 x 38 cm (cut-down version)
Image of the original work courtesy the sitter's estate
Dr Mervyn W Matheson was Alan Baker’s family GP. After the painting was exhibited in the Archibald Prize, the artist gifted it to his sitter but first he cut it down to show just the head and shoulders as he felt the smaller portrait better suited a domestic environment – a relatively common practice of Baker’s.