George Morland, British 1763-1804- Travellers and donkeys beneath a tree in a rural landscape; oil on canvas, signed 'G. Morland' (lower right), 72.8 x 92.8 cm. Provenance: Lord Listowel, Convamore, Ballyhooly, Co. Cork.; Sale, Parke-Bernet...

George Morland, British 1763-1804- Travellers and donkeys beneath a tree in a rural landscape; oil on canvas, signed 'G. Morland' (lower right), 72.8 x 92.8 cm. Provenance: Lord Listowel, Convamore, Ballyhooly, Co. Cork.; Sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 23 January 1952, lot 80. Literature: D. Winter, 'George Morland: 1763-1804', Stamford University, 1977. Note: The present work is an accomplished example of Morland’s oeuvre, finely worked, and executed on a relatively large scale. The subject is characteristic of his predilection for capturing pastoral simplicity, which is idealised without being excessively sentimentalised. As here, Morland’s approach was heavily informed by 17th-century Dutch and Flemish landscape painters, such as Jan van Goyen (1596-1656), alongside the somewhat imagined scenes of rural life of Pieter Breughel the Younger (1564-1636). Morland’s technique and approach also place him firmly within the artistic context in which he was working: his somewhat muted and highly atmospheric use of colours, alongside his treatment of the foliage around the figures, and his brushwork imbuing the leaves with a sense of movement, reveal an affinity to the works of John Constable (1773-1837) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788).
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