A beautifully balanced late-19th-century landscape by English artist, John Horace Hooper (1851-1906). It depicts a woman tending cattle by a country pool at twilight.

It’s an accomplished work that evokes the mood of a peaceful evening in the British countryside. Hooper’s impressionistic approach seems to blend English traditions and the new French styles. Indeed, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a 19th-century French painting with its relaxed brushwork and dapples of light.

Little is written about Hooper aside from his exhibition record, which includes the Royal Academy, Walker Art Gallery, Royal Hibernian and Arthur Tooth. However, it’s clear that, late in his career, he was influenced by impressionism and perhaps painted en plein air.

Here’s another of his works: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23505/lot/18/?category=list

The painting is signed in the lower left and held in a fine period frame.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 40½” x 25” / 103cm x 63cm
Year of creation: c. 1890
Provenance: England
Condition: Very presentable. Light craquelure. Canvas relined. Frame with some age-related wear.
Artist’s auction highlight: £5,614 achieved for ‘Fishing in a mountain stream’ at Sotheby’s in 1989.