Brief Biography-Thomas William Roberts, known as Tom Roberts, was born in Dorset, England, in 1851 and moved to Melbourne in 1869. From 1881 he studied at the Royal Academy Schools in England and became influenced by impressionism when he visited Spain and France. The works of Bastien-Lepage, acquainted him with plein air painting. Charles Edward Conder worked alongside him in his studio in Melbourne. With Conder, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin, he went on painting trips around the outskirts of Melbourne; all three became associated with the Heidelberg School of Impressionists. Roberts and McCubbin pioneered the art of Australian genre painting.