Oil painting, 'Landscape with Horsemen and Cattle', Jacob van Strij, South Netherlands, late 18th century to 1815

A sunny verdant landscape with cattle and cattleherders on horseback, a winding river and cityscape (Dordrecht?) visible in the background

Bequeathed by John M. Parsons

Bequeathed by John M. Parsons, 1870
John Meeson Parsons (1798-1870), art collector, was born in Newport, Shropshire. He later settled in London, and became a member of the stock exchange. His interest in railways led to his election as an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1839, and he was director or chairman of two railway companies between 1843 and 1848. Much of his time however was spent collecting pictures and works of art. In his will he offered his collection of mostly German and Dutch schools to the National Gallery (which selected only three works) and to the Department of Science and Art at South Kensington, later the Victoria and Albert Museum. The South Kensington Museum acquired ninety-two oil paintings and forty-seven watercolours. A number of engravings were also left to the British Museum.

Historical significance: Jacob van Strij (1756-1815) studied with Andreas Lens (1739–1822) in Antwerp and graduated from the Antwerp Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in 1776.
Jacob was primarily a landscape painter and celebrated imitator of his fellow townsman Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691). Several contemporary accounts suggest that van Strij produced deceptive imitations of the 17th-century artist. His collection at one point contained 11 explicit copies after Cuyp as well as works after other landscape painters such as Paulus Potter, Meindert Hobbema, Jan Wijnants and Jan Both. Aside from these close imitations of Cuyp, Jacob forged a personal landscape style as much based on Potter as on Cuyp, characterized by extremely brilliant sunlight, pastel colours and a crisp, thick handling of paint (e.g. Meadow Landscape with Cattle, Amsterdam, Rijksmus.). These include several winter scenes and, like 583-1870, detailed renderings of farm animals.

Landscape paintings were extremely popular during the 17th century and increasingly encompassed a variety of forms and genres. Dutch painters in particular were inspired to paint nature, both their familiar surroundings as well as more exotic locales, the most popular being Italy. In the early 1600s, innovative contributions to landscape paintings were made, especially by the marine painters who concentrated on the changing effects of light according to atmospheric conditions and perspective and had a considerable impact on the appearance of landscape painting. Panoramic views also became popular in 17th-century Netherlandish art and views of the Dutch countryside developed under the influence of Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) who employed a broken brushwork technique and used a restrained monochromatic palette of earthy colours. Towards the end of the 17th century, a shift in taste is detected in favour of more academic and classical landscapes inspired by Italianate paintings and often employed as settings for mythological or historical subjects. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries artists were harkening back to and imitating specific motifs associated with to the Dutch Golden Age landscape painters of two centuries earlier.

A sunny verdant landscape with cattle and cattleherders on horseback, a winding river and cityscape (Dordrecht?) visible in the background. Jacob van Strij (1756-1815) studied with Andreas Lens (1739–1822) in Antwerp and graduated from the Antwerp Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in 1776. Jacob was primarily a landscape painter and celebrated imitator of his fellow townsman Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691). Several contemporary accounts suggest that van Strij produced deceptive imitations of the 17th-century artist. Aside from these close imitations of Cuyp, Jacob forged a personal landscape style as much based on Potter as on Cuyp, characterized by extremely brilliant sunlight, pastel colours and a crisp, thick handling of paint (e.g. Meadow Landscape with Cattle, Amsterdam, Rijksmus.). These include several winter scenes and, like 583-1870, detailed renderings of farm animals.

583-1870