Anthony Dattilo Rubbo (1870-1955) was born in Naples and received classical art training in Italy. He arrived in Australia in 1897 having been awarded the title of professor of drawing in public institutions by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Naples. Over the next couple of years he established himself in Sydney as the major competitor of Julian Ashton. He taught at a number of Sydney private schools and was the most popular instructor at the school of the (Royal) Art Society of New South Wales. At the turn of the century his flat near the Bulletin offices was a meeting place for Sydney's Bohemian community. Grace Cossington Smith, Roland Wakelin and Roi de Maistre were all Rubbo's students, and the first modern paintings in Australia arose from Rubbo's openness to new ideas. He himself, however, eschewed the new movement and continued to produce genre paintings of destitute old men; his more experimental landscapes were the tradition of the French Impressionists rather than their Australian equivalents. Later Rubbo publicly condemned the modern art that he had earlier encouraged. In 1924 he started the Atelier Club and helped to establish the Manly Art Gallery and Historical Collection. He also helped to found the Dante Aligheri Art and Literary Society. He became a life member of the Society of Artists in 1954.
