Julius Caesar Ibbetson, British 1759-1817- A wayside conversation in a rural landscape, a dog and donkey in the foreground; oil on canvas, signed and dated '1798' (lower right), 30 x 41 cm. Provenance: With Leger Galleries, London; With Lowell...

Julius Caesar Ibbetson, British 1759-1817- A wayside conversation in a rural landscape, a dog and donkey in the foreground; oil on canvas, signed and dated '1798' (lower right), 30 x 41 cm. Provenance: With Leger Galleries, London; With Lowell Libson, London. Note: Celebrated for his depictions of the rural English landscape, Ibbetson’s style draws similarities with many of the Dutch Masters of the 17th Century, with artist Benjamin West describing him as the ‘Berchem of England’. The present oil was completed later on in his artistic career in 1798, most likely when he was living in Liverpool and before he moved to the Lake District in 1799. The work shows his well accomplished technique of amalgamating Dutch rustic subject matter with the warm light usually present in Italianate landscapes, whilst the distant terrain and buildings suggest an English setting. These ‘picturesque’ views became incredibly popular towards the end of the 18th Century and resulted in many commissions for Ibbetson as well as his contemporaries, George Moreland and Joseph Wright of Derby.