PERCY CAMPBELL, LANDSCAPE, signed oil, late 19th c.

Percy (Percival) Campbell, RIVER LANDSCAPE AT DUSK

Oil on artists' board, 18.8 x 44.8cm, unframed

Signed P Campbell lower left

Painted circa 1890-1900

Fine original oil on board depicting a river meandering through a wooded and hilly landscape at dusk, with the sun just setting over the hills.

Campbell, a number of whose works have appeared on the market in recent years (see www.aasd.com.au/artist.cfm?concat=campbellpercy), worked in Australia and New Zealand from the late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth and specialized in lake and river landscapes.  As in this picture, his interest seems to have been in presenting natural features and atmosphere for their own sake, without the conventional pictorial element of human presence or interest.

The fact that this picture captures a fleeting atmospheric moment at a very specific time of day, and that it is painted en grisaille (i.e. in tones of grey), allowing the artist to work faster, not having to change between colours, suggests the possibility that it was painted on the spot, en plein air, as was the French-influenced fashion in the later nineteenth century.  Certainly, its style is very much in keeping with English and European artistic fashion of its time.  This painting may have been intended as a sketch to be worked up into a larger, more finished work in the studio, but is more likely to have been for the artist's own pleasure or artistic exercize.

Condition is generally excellent and original, with the original variety of brush-strokes - some vigorous, others flatter - remaining very clear to see.  There are a couple of very small areas in the painting where the board just shows through (e.g. in the centre of the most distant mountain - best observed in the fourth and sixth photos) but, having inspected these very closely, I am certain these are not areas of later paint loss but are areas where the artist applied the paint too drily or thinly to fully cover the board.  This is also the case at certain points along the extreme edges of the board, which is also affected by tiny losses of paint from abrasion against the rebate of a frame (see photos).

Unconditionally guaranteed to be as described.  Further information or photos will be happily supplied upon request and the painting may be viewed by arrangement in South Yarra, Melbourne.