View of a Church
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Research by Jean Holland
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Acc No 194
Artist unknown Artist dates unknown Medium oil on canvas Size 40 x 25 cm (15.7 x 9.8 in) (E) Date painted unknown Donor unknown Date donated unknown |
PAINTING
The fictional domestic church in this oil painting, by an unknown artist, appears to have been made up of four different parts. The positioning of the church, off centre to the right, suggests that a part of the painting is missing as the church is not complete. However, the church does link together the shallow plane of the trees in the foreground with the deep plane of the rolling hills in the far distance so it is well positioned.
The picture is well lit from the right with the sun shining on the tall Victorian tower, the left hand side of the doorway, the windows and far chimney on the left, as well as the right hand side of the trees in the foreground and the churchyard, lighting up the palette of warm reds, browns and siennas, set off by the splashes of the bright complimentary green of the grass and the hedge.
The loose brushwork is impressionistic rather than representational with some texturing on the path in the foreground and the bushes on the left. The paint has been applied thickly which has led to some surface cracking.
Unfortunately, the painting has not been stored well or looked after so is very dirty, as is apparent from the discolouration of the sky.
The static horizontal lines of the lane in the foreground and the church walls and fencing running parallel to the main lines of the roofs and the background hills, together with the strong vertical line of the main tower, lend the picture a comfortable stability and a feeling of Victorian solidity and respectability, upset only slightly by the angle of the tall bare tree in the foreground.
This tree stands in dramatic silhouette against the white cloud of the rosy morning sky which covers about a third of the painting, promising a lovely autumn day.
The fictional domestic church in this oil painting, by an unknown artist, appears to have been made up of four different parts. The positioning of the church, off centre to the right, suggests that a part of the painting is missing as the church is not complete. However, the church does link together the shallow plane of the trees in the foreground with the deep plane of the rolling hills in the far distance so it is well positioned.
The picture is well lit from the right with the sun shining on the tall Victorian tower, the left hand side of the doorway, the windows and far chimney on the left, as well as the right hand side of the trees in the foreground and the churchyard, lighting up the palette of warm reds, browns and siennas, set off by the splashes of the bright complimentary green of the grass and the hedge.
The loose brushwork is impressionistic rather than representational with some texturing on the path in the foreground and the bushes on the left. The paint has been applied thickly which has led to some surface cracking.
Unfortunately, the painting has not been stored well or looked after so is very dirty, as is apparent from the discolouration of the sky.
The static horizontal lines of the lane in the foreground and the church walls and fencing running parallel to the main lines of the roofs and the background hills, together with the strong vertical line of the main tower, lend the picture a comfortable stability and a feeling of Victorian solidity and respectability, upset only slightly by the angle of the tall bare tree in the foreground.
This tree stands in dramatic silhouette against the white cloud of the rosy morning sky which covers about a third of the painting, promising a lovely autumn day.
