With the recent passing of the renowned Australian portrait painter Paul Fitzgerald, thoughts turn to a famous artwork which for years hung from the first floor wall of the Carlton Social Club in the since-demolished George H. Harris Stand.
The oil on canvas depicts John Nicholls, Carlton’s greatest player, sporting the famous dark Navy Blue guernsey and clasping a football as he casts a steely gaze at the viewer.
Nicholls recalls that he was gifted this work around the time he achieved a significant on-field milestone, in the Round 9 match with Essendon at Princes Park - Monday, June 4, 1973.
“I think this was to do with my 300th game for memory. The Club wanted to give me something as a memento and arranged to have the painting done,” Nicholls said this week.
“I can remember being part of several sittings out at Paul’s house in Canterbury. A copy went to the Club and the original I kept.”
Fitzgerald's portrait of John Nicholls. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)
The portrait carries the artist’s signature and what appears to be the year 1970, which suggests that this work was long in the planning and execution. The Club’s version also carries a plaque, later added to the base of the frame, upon which are the words;
John Nicholls
CARLTON FOOTBALL CLUB
331 Games 1957-1974
Captain 7 Years
31 Interstate Games
So what did 'Big Nick' make of the portrait?
“I thought it was wonderful – very, very good - and that’s a view shared by everyone who has seen it, including my wife Janet,” Nicholls said.
“Janet always said that Paul got my eyes right. She used to say that when she walked past the painting she could see me looking at her.”
Paul Desmond Fitzgerald AM, who died on June 24 this year at the age of 94, is thought to have painted more distinguished persons than any other Australian.
Fitzgerald, who thrice painted Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, accepted overseas commissioned portraits twice a year from as far back as 1958. One portrait of Pope John XXIII was completed after the Pontiff’s death, although the ailing world figure managed one sitting with the artist after the latter attended 11 audiences with the former.
Fitzgerald alongise his painting of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. (Photo: Jodie Harrison-Fitzgerald)
“Each day, I would go to the Pope’s engagements and I would take along a sketchpad,” Fitzgerald recalled, in an earlier interview for a soon-to-be released book chronicling his extensive works.
“I had attended about eleven audiences with the Pope to paint the head. I had copied that head onto the big painting and was ready now to have the sitting and complete the portrait.
“After one sitting, the Monsignor called to say His Holiness had fallen very ill and the doctor has said there’s no way he could give me another sitting for three weeks. I told him I would go on to London where I had a commission to paint the Queen. There I would await a telegram asking me to come back when the Pope was well enough. Well he never recovered, and he died within five weeks.”
Fitzgerald also painted throughout Australia. He was a finalist for the Archibald Prize for portraiture on numerous occasions, including in 1958 with a portrait of Justice RV Monahan, in 1962 with portraits of Sir Reg Ansett and Carlton’s No.1 male ticketholder Sir Robert Menzies, and in 1972 with a portrait of Sir Henry Bolte.
Fitzgerald by his portrait of the late Malcolm Fraser, formerly Carlton’s No.1 ticketholder. (Photo: Jodie Harrison-Fitzgerald)
Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia and Knight of Malta in 1997, Fitzgerald founded the Australian Guild of Realist Artists, where he was a Life Member of the Council, and was president for seven years.
Amongst the notables to have been painted by Fitzgerald are the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain Conrad Hilton, actors Glenn Ford and Vivien Leigh; the soprano Maria Callas (posthumously); members of the Malaysian Royal Family; the Duke of Kent; and Prince Ludwig and Princess Von Baden of Germany.
Fitzgerald with the Hollywood actor Glenn Ford and his portrait. (Photo: Jodie Harrison-Fitzgerald)
Amongst the Australian sporting greats whose portraits were painted by Fitzgerald are Sir Norman Brooks (posthumously), Lew Hoad, Neale Fraser, Allan Border, Lionel Rose and of course this football club’s five-time best and fairest.
Fitzgerald also painted the portraits of former Carlton footballer and powerbroker Laurie Kerr and his wife Vivienne – the Club’s No.1 female ticketholder.
Former Carlton President Sir Kenneth Luke was also a subject, as were members of the AFL hierarchy including Allen Aylett, Ross Oakley and John Kennedy.
The John Nicholls oil on canvas will feature with other notables and nobles in the book The Portraits of Paul Fitzgerald. The book, penned by Paul’s daughter-in-law Jodie Harrison-Fitzgerald, is to be published later this year.
