This picturesque mid-19th-century oil painting by British artist Edmund John Niemann (1813-1876) depicts a river view illuminated by the lazy golden hues of an evening sun.
Wispy clouds, tinted pink, glide across a graduated sky as a lone sailboat progresses upriver. A clutch of proud Scots pines, gathered like old friends, stretch and break through the distant horizon. It’s an evocative scene capturing nature at her most alluring.
Niemann was the son of a German banker who initially followed in his father’s footsteps before pursuing an artistic career. Within a matter of years, he was exhibiting prolifically at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. It’s remarkable that, given his evident skill, no records exist relating to his formal training.
His greatest inspiration seems to be taken from the works of John Constable and JMW Turner. These two formidable artists were the frontrunners in a quest to establish landscape painting as a distinguished and worthy subject. Turner’s liquid skies coupled with Constable’s naturalism, are very much evoked in Niemann’s oeuvre.
Niemann was praised by critics for his ‘exquisitely tender’ touch and his ‘enchanting’ atmospheric renderings. The leading art magazine of the time, the ‘Art Journal,’ was quick to praise his paintings of the Thames and he was also lauded for his composition and perspective. From Wales to Hampstead, Yorkshire to Salisbury, he turned his skilled and emotional brush to the enigmatic spirit of Britain.
He’s represented in numerous public collections including the V&A Museum and at Wolverhampton, Leeds and Glasgow.
Signed in the lower left and held within a later gilt frame.
Learn more about Edmund John Niemann in our directory.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 28½” x 18½” / 72cm x 47cm
Year of creation: c. 1860
Labels & Inscriptions: Bears a label with title on the reverse.
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Areas of fine and settled craquelure, as you would expect. The paint layer is stable. Frame in good condition with minor age-related wear.
Artist’s auction maximum: £24,000 for ‘The Floating Harbour, Bristol, With The Remnants of the Sloop (1865)’, Oil on canvas, Sotheby’s, The Marine Sale, London, 1998 (lot 147).
Our reference: BRV1979
