'The man behind the prize lived a life that was not without tragedy and mystery...
'Every year thousands of Sydneysiders visit the Art Gallery of NSW to view the entrants in the Archibald Prize for Portraiture, which carries the primary aim to foster portraiture, as well as to perpetuate the memory of great Australians.
'Across Australia, thousands more will see the travelling exhibition of the prize.
'Sydney's fountain in Hyde Park is named after him.
'He is the founding editor of our nation's most iconic newspapers, The Bulletin. Yet extraordinarily little is known about the man behind the prize, J.F. Archibald.
'As editor of the Bulletin newspaper, he nurtured the careers of Australian writers and artists from Mile Franklin and Banjo Paterson to Norman Lindsay and Francis Rodway. In 1900, he commissioned Melbourne portrait artist John Longstaff to paint a portrait of poet Henry Lawson for 50 guineas.
'So pleased with this portrait, he left money in his will for an annual portrait prize, which was first awarded in 1921.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
