Oil painting, 'Landscape with Travellers', Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1775-1780

Oil painting

Purchased, 1887
Bought from Mr Gray Hill of Birkenhead for £50. Mr. Hill had bought it at Christie's, May 10, 1879, at the sale of the Wardell collection, Lot 45 [John Wardell (dec.) of Rathgar, Dublin].

Historical significance: Philippe Jacques De Loutherbourg (1740-1812) landscape painter and theatrical scene designer, was born in Strasbourg, Alsace. He was the son of a miniaturist and engraver to the court of Darmstadt. He studied at the University of Strasbourg with a view to becoming an engineer, but his interest in drawing led to him undertaking formal artistic training with Carle Van Loo. He also studied engraving and exhibited his first paintings at the Paris Salon in 1763; he was noted by Diderot for his ability to depict space and atmosphere. He was a great success in Paris, but personal unhappiness probably spurred him to leave to go on the grand tour in 1768, visiting southern France, and on to the Rhineland rather than the usual Italian cities, (he is supposed to have visited Switzerland at this time, but see catalogue entry for 1028-1886),. He then travelled on to London in 1771, with a letter of introduction from Jean Monnet, the former manager of the Opéra Comique, and friend of the famous actor David Garrick; Garrick in turn was patron to a number of London painters. At first he stayed with a colleague of Garrick's, and soon after his arrival, de Loutherbourg suggested to Garrick major changes to the scenery arrangements at Drury Lane Theatre. Garrick was impressed and employed de Loutherbourg to take on all such arrangements. Thereafter de Loutherbourg's career was significantly devoted to often pioneering theatrical design, including lighting effects. At the same time he continued to work as an easel painter, and in 1781 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy. Following his election he concentrated to a greater extent on his easel painting, taking tours of the British countryside. During the 1790s, recognising the currency of Britain's naval prowess, he painted a number of paintings which celebrated this aspect of national life. At the turn of the century collections of engravings after his paintings of British scenery were published; The Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain (1801) and The Romantic and Picturesque Scenery of England and Wales (1805). Along with other notable artists he also contributed to Thomas Macklin's Bible (1800) and to Robert Bowyer's History of England (1812), published the year he died

While the artist Richard Wilson was inspired by the Italianate classicism of the 17th century painter Claude Lorrain, de Loutherbourg was more interested in the other European landscape tradition; that of Dutch and Flemish naturalism. Primarily known as a landscape painter, often of dramatic subjects such as floods, shipwrecks and avalanches, de Loutherbourg also dealt with historical themes and worked as a theatre designer. Here, his theatrical experience is evident in the way the two travellers, sitting upright and determined to maintain their dignity, negotiate their carriage over the water and the rocky ground. This has a humorous quality, but there is also an air of melancholy in the landscape. It is an evening scene, the journey must be almost over, and again we are reminded of the stage in the artist's theatrical lighting 'effects'. At about the same time, around 1780, de Loutherbourg invented the 'Eidophusikon, or Representation of Nature', a little stage on which appeared moving scenes made up of painted panels and transparencies, a precursor of the cinema.

28-1887