Anton Mauve - The Return of the Flock, Laren [c.1886-87]

Anton Mauve - The Return of the Flock, Laren [c.1886-87], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Mauve (Dutch, 1838 - 1888) was a master of depicting moist, low places populated by domestic animals and their anonymous keepers. As this painting so convincingly demonstrates, his ability to control gentle, nearly monochromatic tones, while not losing a sense of either the place or the moment, puts him in direct and happy comparison with the two French artists he most admired: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Jean-François Millet.

[Philadelphia Museum of Art - Oil on canvas, 100.2 x 161.3 cm]

Anton Mauve - The Workshop of the Haarlem Painter Pieter Frederik vanOs, the Teacher of Mauve [c.1855-56]

Anton Mauve - The Workshop of the Haarlem Painter Pieter Frederik van Os, the Teacher of Mauve [c.1855-56], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - Oil on canvas, 49 x 61 cm]

Anton Mauve - A Cottage by a Ditch [1870-88]

Anton Mauve - A Cottage by a Ditch [1870-88], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - Oil on canvas, 36 x 49 cm]

Anton Mauve - Shepherdess with Flock of Sheep [c.1870-88]

Anton Mauve - Shepherdess with Flock of Sheep [c.1870-88], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Anton Mauve (Zaandam, September 18, 1838 - Amhem, February 5, 1888) was a Dutch realist painter. Most of Mauve's work depicts people and animals in outdoor settings. His best known paintings depict peasants working in the fields. His paintings of flocks of sheep were especially popular with American patrons, so popular indeed that a price differential developed between scenes of "sheep coming" and "sheep going."

[Rijksmuseum - Oil on canvas, 54 x 82 cm]

Anton Mauve - Changing Pasture [c.1880s]

Anton Mauve - Changing Pasture [c.1880s], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, The Hague became the centre of a major school of landscape painting. Its principal members were the Maris brothers, Josef Israels, H. W. Mesdag, and Mauve (Dutch, 1838 - 1888), who settled in The Hague in 1874. Inspired by J. F. Millet and other members of the Barbizon School, whose work could be seen in the Goupil Gallery in The Hague and in Mesdag's personal collection, they shared a commitment to record the peasant life, gray skies, and flat terrain of their native country. Changing Pasture reflects these interests and is a characteristic work of the last decade of Mauve's life.

[Oil on canvas, 61 x 100.6 cm]

Anton Mauve - Morning Ride [1876]

Anton Mauve - Morning Ride [1876], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A group of horses descend at a leisurely pace from the dunes to the beach. It is a summer's day, around noon: the sun is high and shadows are short. Well-to-do, well-dressed equestrians are taking a relaxing ride on the beach at Scheveningen, a popular coastal resort of the day. At the foot of the dune are a number of bathing huts. These riding horses are an unusual feature in a piece by Anton Mauve. He normally painted workhorses and animals in their natural environment. He was particularly famous for his landscapes with sheep.

Antonij (Anton) Mauve was born in Zaandam, Netherlands in 1838 and died in 1888. [Oil on canvas, 45 x 70 cm]