This beautiful late 19th-century oil painting by British artist, Joseph Paulman (fl.1880-1900), depicts a family returning home at twilight.

Under an incandescent sky, when the golden hour flaunts its most atmospheric effects, a father atop a white horse guides his family home. Beyond them, the familiar sight of a haycart stands silhouetted against an evocative strip of radiant sky. It’s nature at her most poignant, when the landscape shifts through its various moods with every lost inch of the sun.

Little is known about Joseph Paulman, despite his evident skill, so it’s likely to be a pseudonym for an established exhibited artist. His works represent an experienced hand and certainly one with training. There’s an underlying sense of nostalgia for a quaint form of rural life, a simpler time of fieldwork and family, amid the rising tide of industrialisation. He was particularly versed at shimmering rivers, often enlivening them with striking light effects.

Signed in the lower left and held within a later frame.

Learn more about Joseph Paulman in our directory.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 21” x 17” /53 cm x 43cm
Year of creation: c. 1890
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Canvas relined. Craquelure in areas. The paint layer is stable. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Artist’s auction maximum: £2,700 for ‘Stepping Stones/Returning at Dusk’, Oil on canvas, Bonham’s, Fine 19th Century European Paintings, London, 1997 (lot 24).
Our reference: BRV2017