Willem Uppink – Animated Landscape – Wash And Watercolor – Early 19th Century

Neoclassical landscape depicting two young shepherds and their animals in a peaceful landscape. In the background, we see mountains and large clouds rising in the sky. At the foot of the mountain, a valley unfolds. The figures are situated overlooking the valley, near a cabin buried under the trees. A dog sleeps near them. One of the boys plays the flageolet.

The work is done in ink wash enhanced with watercolor. The whole is very fine and delicate. There are tiny foxing marks on the motif, but the whole is in very good condition. The work is placed under a mat and under glass, framed with a black and gold lacquered rod.

On the back, there is a fragment of an old attribution, and a more recent attribution.

The artist
Willem Uppink was a Dutch painter (born in 1767 and died in 1849) active during a transitional period between Classicism and the emerging Romanticism. Relatively unknown today, Uppink specialized in genre painting, landscapes, and portraits, following in the tradition of 18th-century Dutch painting.

Uppink's work displays great thematic diversity. His wooded landscapes with cottages by ponds reveal a particular sensitivity to peaceful rural scenes. He also produced genre scenes depicting peasants loading wood onto wagons, as well as fishermen in river landscapes. These compositions reflect the influence of the traditional Dutch school, with a particular attention to the details of everyday life. Uppink also distinguished himself in portraiture, notably with his "Portrait of a Painter" (1785–1791), which may be a self-portrait or the portrait of an artist relative. This work demonstrates his technical mastery in the representation of the human figure and his interest in the artistic milieu of his time.

Today, Willem Uppink's works are kept mainly at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which notably owns the aforementioned portrait. His paintings regularly appear in international auctions, testifying to a sustained interest among collectors in this late 18th-century artist. Uppink represents an important link in the Dutch artistic continuity between the great masters of the Golden Age and the artistic developments of the 19th century.

Work visible at the gallery (07240)
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