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A Spanish Soldier of the 16th Century
Hand-painted oil reproduction from $181 30 × 34 cm
Same size as the original $444 92 × 105 cm Order at original size →
The painting that made Robert Atkinson famous is A Spanish Soldier of the 16th Century (1885); it hangs in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland. Portrait of Albin Martin (1886) and A Settler’s Kitchen, Opua Whanga, New Zealand 1886 (1886) follow it in the hearts of collectors and museum visitors. Of the 5 works by Robert Atkinson in our catalogue, these 5 are the most admired, each presented with its date, its museum and what sets it apart.
Ranked by our popularity score, which combines the searches, visits and orders for each work. Updated November 2026. Every masterpiece on this page can be ordered as a museum-quality, hand-painted oil reproduction or a fine art print, at the size you choose.
The museum that holds the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Robert Atkinson | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki |
Auckland | 5 | A Spanish Soldier of the 16th Century, Portrait of Albin Martin, A Settler’s Kitchen, Opua Whanga, New Zealand 1886 |
Robert Atkinson's dated masterpieces span just 2 years, 1885 to 1886: here is each year at its finest.
A Spanish Soldier of the 16th Century (1885), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland. Next come Portrait of Albin Martin (1886) and A Settler’s Kitchen, Opua Whanga, New Zealand 1886 (1886).
22 years old: A Spanish Soldier of the 16th Century dates from 1885 and Robert Atkinson was born in 1863.
Our catalogue lists 5 works by Robert Atkinson, dated from 1885 to 1886.
Most of them are in Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (Auckland). The table above lists the museums one by one.
In 1886: 2 of the 5 works on this page date from then, among them Portrait of Albin Martin.
The earliest on this page is A Spanish Soldier of the 16th Century (1885), the latest Portrait of Albin Martin (1886).
A Spanish Soldier of the 16th Century, Portrait of Albin Martin and A Settler’s Kitchen, Opua Whanga, New Zealand 1886 are among the 5 works on this page held by the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland.
Yes. Every painting on this page can be ordered as a museum-quality, hand-painted oil reproduction or a fine art print, in the size you choose, from the painting's own page.
Born in the industrial heart of Leeds, Robert Atkinson sought a different air, eventually finding himself in the studios of Antwerp. It was under the guidance of Verlat that his hand first learned the discipline of form and light. By 1885, driven by a need for better health, he turned his gaze toward the southern reaches of the globe, arriving in New Zealand. He established a studio in the Victoria Arcade in Auckland, a space where the quiet intensity of his studies began to take shape. His presence in the colonies was marked by a steady hand and a desire to capture the essence of his surroundings, from the intimate details of a settler's kitchen in Opua Whanga to the formal dignity of a portrait of Albin Martin.
His time in the colonies was a period of constant movement and connection. He moved between the art circles of Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland, building friendships with fellow painters like Kate McCosh Clark. These years were defined by a search for subject matter that could bridge the gap between his European training and the raw reality of his new environment. Even when he returned to England in 1889 to work as an illustrator, the pull of the southern lands remained, drawing him back to New Zealand in 1895.
The works he left behind reveal a man deeply interested in the structure of life, whether through the study of the human form or the depiction of social scenes. His paintings often focused on the immediate and the tangible:
His death in Dunedin in 1896 cut short a career that was still finding its footing in the colonial landscape. Though his life was brief, the rarity of his New Zealand genre subjects ensures that his vision remains a distinct part of the historical record. He was a painter of specific moments, capturing the light of a new world through the lens of an old-world education.