Tom Roberts’ Bailed Up is an episode of the series National Treasures produced in 2004.

Tom Roberts’ Bailed Up
If you were to nominate one painting as Australia’s greatest, what would it be? Curator Barry Pearce of the Art Gallery of New South Wales explains why Tom Roberts’ Bailed Up would be a contender, and Warren Brown ponders the extraordinary lengths to which Roberts went to complete his famous artwork and how close we once came to losing this national treasure.

National Treasures
Take a road-trip of discovery with the irrepressible Warren Brown – political cartoonist, columnist and history “tragic” – as he reveals a fascinating mix of national treasures drawn from public and private collections across Australia. On its own, each treasure is a priceless snapshot of an historic moment. Together, they illustrate the vitality and uniqueness of the Australian experience.

National Treasures is a Film Australia National Interest Program. Produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Tom Roberts was one of the ‘Heidelberg School’ of Australian artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

These painters introduced a ‘plein air’ style to depicting the Australian bush, using impressionist principles to capture the light, colour and atmosphere of the Australian bush landscape and sky.

The school was closely tied to an emerging Australian nationalism, which saw the acceptance of Australian scenes and people as suitable subjects for art.

Other members of the ‘school’ included Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder, Frederick Mc Cubbin, David Davies, Jane Sutherland, and Walter Withers.

There are many examples of Heidelberg School words in Australian state galleries.