Penleigh Boyd's life was tragically cut short in a car accident at the age of 33, however in his short life he produced a significant body of landscape paintings. Most notably subject matter incorporating wattle which symbolized Arcadian ideals as much as a sense of Australian nationalism. Boyd also has an exceptional artistic pedigree, belonging to the famous Boyd dynasty. He was the son of Arthur Merric and Emma Minnie Boyd and, in addition to his visual legacy, his son, Robin Boyd, was a distinguished Melbourne architect.

Prodigiously talented, he was taught at the Melbourne National Gallery Drawing School by Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall as a teenager. From mid 1914, Boyd lived at Warrandyte on t...