Lot 209: JOHANNES GIJSBERTUS VAN RAVENSWAAY DUTCH, 1815-1849

signed and dated 1847 l.r.

oil on canvas

Johannes Gijsbertus van Ravenswaay was born in Hilversum in 1815. He was a pupil of his uncle, the Hilversum landscapist and animal painter Jan van Ravenswaay. The rural surroundings of this small town in the centre of Holland with its golden buckwheat fields, oak forests and meadows with grazing cattle, attracted many landscape artists in the 19th century. In 1835 Frederik Marinus Kruseman also stayed there, probably to receive lessons in painting cattle from Jan van Ravenswaay. To further develop his skill in landscape painting, Johannes Gijsbertus van Ravenswaay travelled to Germany to study nature. Struck by the overwhelming woodlands, he started to staffage his paintings with human beings reduced to a tiny scale, to make the landscape look even more impressive. Unfortunately Van Ravenswaay's career was cut tragically short by his untimely death in 1849 at the age of thirty-four.
The present lot is an excellent example of his work. The heavy rocks and the prominent trees in this composition are almost devouring the shepherds on the path to the left. This overpowering force of nature shows the true Romantic spirit of the artist.

83 by 110 cm.

FROM THE RADEMAKERS COLLECTION