Sketch for a Tom Roberts painting

This is a black-and-white photograph of a colour oil sketch made by the celebrated Australian artist Tom Roberts (1856–1931) at the opening of the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building on 9 May 1901. It shows the grandeur and formality of the scene in impressionistic style. The faces of the subjects are generally not recognisable, although the figure at the front of the stage is clearly the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V).