Eugene von Guerard, painter and teacher, was born in November 1811 in Vienna. He studied in Dusseldorf and travelled in Germany and Italy before arriving in Victoria in 1852. He visited the Ballarat goldfields and later travelled in Victoria, N.S.W, S.A. and Tas. In 1870 he was appointed Curator of the National Gallery of Victoria and Principal of its Art School where he remained until his retirement in 1881.