catalog text
MOUNTAINSCAPE OF SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK (1864) BY JOHANNES FRANCISCUS HOPPENBROUWERS (DUTCH, 1819-1866)
Signed lower middle and dated ’64, label signed reverse J. Hoppenbrouwers and dated (apparently) 10 January 1866
Item # 809ZJP29Q
Executed in oil on oak panel, this scene captures a shepherd and his dog walking the flock home at the end of the day along a rough dirt path during golden hour where the sun hits the haze of the horizon in such a way that the brilliant warm pastels touch most reflective surfaces. Tips of rocks and sheep gleam with hues of orange, gold and reds under the cloudy sky before a mountain landscape. The painting is inscribed by the artist’s own hand on a label to the reverse which includes both a signature and date of 10 January 1866.
Johannes Franciscus Hoppenbrouwers studied at the Academy of Fine Art in The Hague under the acclaimed landscape painter Andreas Schelfhout (1787-1870). Schelfhout taught many artists of the later Hague School and Schelfhout’s influence is clearly present in Hoppenbrouwers’ work. Hoppenbrouwers mostly produced romantic and nostalgic summer and winter landscape paintings heavy with atmosphere and rich in color. Hoppenbrouwers occasionally left the staffage of his paintings to others, including David Bles, Charles Rochussen, Petrus Vertin and also by Andreas Schelfhout. Much of his work is held in museum collections, including one of his watercolor scenes in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 2005.8) and his “View in the Dunes” is held by Rijks Museum.
Measurements: 17 3/4” H x 21” W x 1 1/2” D [frame]; 13” H x 16” W [panel]
Condition Report:
Likely cleaned in the last two decades, but would benefit from being cleaned again at some point. Minor touch ups and inpainting visible under UV, including a few spots to the sky. Housed in a contemporary frame with minor chips to gilding.