Oil painting, 'View in Moyland near Cleves, Germany', Gérard Jozef Adrian van Luppen, 1869

A peasant woman, seen from behind, walks down a dirt track lined with trees at the right and a canal at left, in her left hand she holds the hand of the child at her side and in her right, a bundle of faggots; a herd of cattle and a village visible in the distance

Bequeathed by Joshua Dixon

Bequeathed by Joshua Dixon, 1886
Joshua Dixon (1811-1885), was the son of Abraham Dixon of Whitehaven and brother of George Dixon (who was head of the foreign merchants firm of Rabone Brothers in Birmingham 1883-98). Educated at Leeds Grammar School, and was deputy chairman of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company 1869-70. Died Winslade, near Exeter, 7 December 1885. Bequeathed all his collection of drawings, watercolours and oil paintings to the Bethnal Green Museum; they have since been transferred to the V&A. He also collected engravings, Japanese vases and panels, and bronze and marble sculpture.

Ref: Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, (Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990), p.xx.

Historical significance: Gérard Jozef Adrian van Luppen (1834-1891) is a little known Belgian artist who primarily painted atmospheric Romantic landscapes dominated by large trees and expanses of blue sky filled with cumulous clouds. Romantic artists such as van Luppen were fascinated by nature, which they interpreted as a mirror of the mind. Through their paintings they examined aspects of human nature, folk culture, national and ethnic origins, the remote, the mysterious and the occult. It is really in the Post-Napoleonic period that this movement gained ascendancy. Its greatest proponents were, among others, Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) in France, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) in England and Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) in Germany. 1053-1886 suggests that van Luppen also spent a period of time working in Germany.

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. Towards the end of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, Dutch artists returned to 17th century landscape traditions and imitated the great painters of the Golden Age. This trend flourished in the Hague school (1870-90) before coming to an end with the beginning of Impressionism.

A peasant woman, seen from behind, walks down a dirt track lined with trees at the right and a canal at left, in her left hand she holds the hand of the child at her side and in her right, a bundle of faggots; a herd of cattle and a village visible in the distance. Gérard Jozef Adrian van Luppen (1834-1891) is a little known Belgian artist who primarily painted atmospheric Romantic landscapes dominated by large trees and expanses of blue sky filled with cumulous clouds. Romantic artists such as van Luppen were fascinated by nature, which they interpreted as a mirror of the mind. Through their paintings they examined aspects of human nature, folk culture, national and ethnic origins, the remote, the mysterious and the occult. 1053-1886 suggests that van Luppen spent a period of time working in Germany.

1053-1886