In the 1890s the young brothers Lionel and Norman Lindsay were inspired by John Esquemeling’s The Buccaneers of America and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island not only to draw and paint pirates, but also to dress as pirates and plan a pirate novel of their own.

One of their friends was horrified: ‘Pirates? What had pirates done for humanity? Scoundrels – criminals – murderers. Were pirates true, beautiful, or good?’ Lionel replied: ‘to hell with your moralities. What has subject to do with the question of any work of art, which justifies itself only if it is well done? The pirate is a figure of Romance’. Norman’s sons Jack, Raymond and Philip continued the family romance with pirates.

This exhibition is a motley crew of Lindsay-family pirates and, to plunder an expression from Lionel, ‘picturesque ruffians’ by other artists.

Image credits: Raymond LINDSAY  1903-1960 / [Pirate] n.d. / oil on canvas 61.0 x 46.0 cm / Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by John Brown. / Toowoomba City Collection 1909

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