Abraham Hulk Junior

Abraham Hulk Junior, Autumnal Landscape With Father & Child

c. 1900

This mid-19th-century oil painting by Danish-American artist Joachim Ferdinand Richardt (1819-1895) depicts a congregation observing a river baptism, probably in the Mississippi River. In 2009, at President Obama’s Inauguration luncheon, a panoramic view of Niagara was selected as the backdrop to his speech. It’s a breathtaking image, capturing the sublimity of the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls in all their iconic majesty. The ‘Maid-of-the-Mist’, negotiates the rapids, a mere speck within a broad expanse of water. While beyond, a colossal sheet of spray is sharply illuminated through passing clouds. It was painted by the son of a bookbinder, a humble Danish artist who travelled extensively across the United States to document its nature, buildings and civilization. Admired in his own lifetime, this unassuming adventurer produced scores of resplendent vistas but also numerous vignettes documenting everyday activities. Joachim Ferdinand Richardt was initially destined to become a carpenter but, thankfully, enrolled at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where he studied under three distinguished masters. Blessed with a skill for drawing, he was awarded medals and in 1839 began exhibiting at the prestigious Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition. In 1841, the Danish Royal Family acquired one of his works and six years later granted him a five-year stipend. Richardt trained at a time of exceptional creative output whereby Denmark was developing a clearer identity. Dubbed ‘National Romanticism’, artists were extolling their country’s natural beauty, while also celebrating humble folk life within rural environs. Stylistically, their work is somewhat comparable with German Romanticism...

This charming Lowry-esque late 19th-century oil painting by Swedish artist Ernst Philip De Fine Licht (1855-1929) depicts the old town hall at Helsingborg, Sweden. De Fine Licht was ...

Signed lower right "Nasmyth" leading to one of the whole pleiad of renowned Scottish artists starting with Alexander Nasmyth (1758 -1840). This painting showcases a scene of a landscape with shallow water, where a family is seen wading through a river ford in knee-deep water. The presence of a shepherdess on a high bank, observing the travelers with keen interest, adds a sense of pastoral charm to the composition. One of the focal points of the painting is a picturesque tree that has fallen into the river, adding a touch of drama to the overall scene. The contrast between the lush woodland and bushes on the right side of the foreground and the rolling valley on the left side further enhances the depth and perspective of the painting and superbly illustrates the traditions of the early 19th century British Art...

Interesting view of the Pool of London, an area known on the Thames near Tower Bridge where freight was loaded and unloaded from the earliest times of the City of London through the ...