Landscape with Picnickers and Donkeys by a Gate, c. 1830-1880

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 123.2 x 99 cm (48 1/2 x 39 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.14

Artists / Makers

Joseph Paul (painter) British, 1804 - 1887

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

The Hon. Mrs. James(?) Byng. (Wallis & Son, London); purchased 1892 by Peter A.B. Widener,[1] Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as by Crome; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] Information from P.A.B. Widener, "The Widener Collection, February 1st, 1908" in the NGA Library.

Associated Names

Byng, James, The Hon. Mrs.
Wallis & Son, Henry
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Technical Summary

The fine canvas is twill woven; it has been lined. The ground is light colored, possibly white, and is thinly applied. The painting is executed in thick, rich layers with high texture and impasto throughout; some fine traction crackle in the layers of thin brown glaze, especially at lower right, suggests the presence of bitumen. There is a slight pentimento in the positioning of the gate. The paint texture has been slightly flattened during lining. The lower left and the entire bottom edge have been retouched, there are scattered retouches chiefly in the foreground, and a large area of the sky to the left of the upper branches of the center tree has been heavily overpainted; the dark trunk of the tree on the extreme right has been reinforced with overpaint, as have the red branches in the trees top center. The thick natural resin varnish has discolored to a moderate degree.

Bibliography

1915: Roberts, William. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: British and Modern French Schools, Philadelphia, 1915: unpaginated, repro., as Harling Gate, Near Norwich by John Crome.

1923: Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro., as Harling Gate, Near Norwich by John Crome ("Old Crome").

1931: Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 198, repro., as Harling Gate, Near Norwich by John Crome.

1948: Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 93, repro., as Harling Gate, Near Norwich by John Crome ("Old Crome").

1960: Cooke, Hereward Lester. British Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Eight in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 30, color repro., as Harling Gate, Near Norwich by John Crome.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 320, repro., as Harling Gate, Near Norwich by John Crome ("Old Crome").

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 35, as Harling Gate, near Norwich, by John Crome.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 28, repro., as Harling Gate, near Norwich, by John Crome.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 88, repro., as Harling Gate, near Norwich.

1978: Goldberg, Norman L. John Crome the Elder. 2 vols. Oxford, 1978: 1:94-95, 213; 2:pls. 85-86.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 108, repro., as Harling Gate, near Norwich by Follower of John Crome.

1992: Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 180-183, repro. 181.