Painting of the Week - James Ward
Village Scene with Figures and Animals
This stunning British Old Master exhibited pastoral oil on panel is by noted artist James Ward. Painted circa 1815 with superb provenance, it was exhibited posthumously at the Royal Academy London in 1885 whilst owned by Studley Castle. The painting is of a village setting with a number of villagers going about their activities outside their cottages including doing the laundry, shoeing a horse and passing the tine of day. He was a noted animal painter and there are numerous passages throughout the painting of animals. A sow and her piglets are in the foreground just before a bridge over a stream and the cottages follow the track beyond. There is a horse by the cottage. Behind the village are majestic hills and a Sublime sky with clouds rolling in. The painting is bathed in sunlight with fantastic fluid brushwork on the track and especially in the clouds. There is also great attention to detail such as the eves of the house on the near right, the stonework on the left and the leaves of the trees. This is a superb British Old Master oil painting with excellent provenance and is a fantastic example of Ward's work.
Signed J WARD (in ligature, lower left).
Provenance Charles Mansel Lewis (1845-1931) And by family descent
Property from Stradey Castle, Wales
Literature: C. Reginald Grundy, James Ward, R.A. His Life and Works (London, 1909), p.54, no. 858
Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1885, no.33
Click below for James Ward
https://www.richardtaylorfineart.com/artist/ward/village-scene-with-figures-and-animals