BALLARAT Fine Art Gallery paintings are sourced from many places - Adelaide verandahs are not usually among them.
But it was on one such verandah that Thomas Thompson's 1873 oil painting, "Lake Wendouree" was housed until last year.
Before that, it was stored in the attic of the same house.
When an Adelaide resident asked Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Director Gordon Morrison if the gallery wanted to buy the painting, he was initially sceptical of its worth.
But "the moment" he saw the piece he changed his mind.
"We knew we had something very very special. We also knew we had an absolute wreck on our hands," Mr Morrison said.
In fact the restoration of the painting, which took a conservator eight months to complete, cost more than its purchase price.
Not known as a painter, English-born Thomas Thompson made his name as a wood carver in Mair St, with his work featured in St Patrick's Cathedral and St Andrew's Uniting Church.
But the Sturt St statue of Robert Burns is the work for which he is best known.
Ian Rossiter, City of Ballarat Executive Officer Corporate Planning, said the painting's historical details had been verified by a 1994 Lake Wendouree Heritage Conservation Analysis.
"What caught my my eye when I saw the painting were the weeping willows," Mr Rossiter said.
"And here we have in the analysis `1872; fifty weeping willows were planted along the edge of the lake east of the botanic gardens."
He said the moment captured the acclimatisation period of Ballarat history, where European and North American settlers sought to re-create the landscape of their homelands.
Several descendants of Mr Thompson were present for the painting's offical unveiling yesterday.
Neil Thompson, 80, said he was "very surprised" to learn his great-grandfather was a painter, but described his effort as "impressive".
* A souvenir poster of "Lake Wendouree" is free in next Tuesday's edition of The Courier.