Geelong’s $3.8 million art purchase went on public display at the city’s gallery yesterday.
The gallery has called Eugene von Guerard’s 1856 View of Geelong “unquestionably” one its most significant acquisitions.
The painting drew thousands to the gallery during an earlier visit to Geelong in the mid-1990s.
English composer And-ew Lloyd-Webber sparked a fund-raising campaign in Geelong when he announced he would sell the painting.
Local, state and federal governments chipped in most of the money, with the community campaign raising the rest of the cash.