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Antique Scottish Highland Cattle Oil Painting, Loch Landscape with Drover

Antique Scottish Highland Cattle Oil Painting, Loch Landscape with Drover

$2,400.00 USD
$2,400.00 USD
Sale Sold out
About This Piece

A stone humpback bridge carries a Highland drover and his cattle over a rushing burn, the loch behind them running back to peaks lost in morning haze. The reverse carries an ink inscription reading "J. Bretland, Nott'm 1855" and a later collector's label naming Thomas Bretland of Nottingham, though the attribution is unconfirmed and the work is offered as Victorian Scottish School. Whoever painted it knew the idiom well: the red, black, and white beasts are a stock grouping of the tradition, the kilted figure gives the eye its scale, and the sailing boats on the water carry the distance. A large, confidently handled example of the Highland pastoral that defined mid-Victorian taste.

Details
Artist
Victorian Scottish School, bearing a verso inscription "J. Bretland, Nott'm 1855," attribution unconfirmed
Signature
Inscribed in ink on the canvas verso "J. Bretland, Nott'm 1855," not signed on the front
Medium
Oil on canvas
Subject
Highland loch landscape with drover, cattle, and sheep, stone bridge over a burn
Origin
Scottish subject, British School
Age
Dated 1855 on the verso inscription, mid-19th century
Canvas Size
30 in. W x 25 in. H
Frame Size
38.5 in. W x 33.5 in. H
Format
Horizontal, framed
Frame
Ornate gilt composition frame with foliate corners, period to the work
Style
Victorian Highland pastoral
Support
Canvas, relined
Provenance
Bears a later collector's label reading "Thomas Bretland, Highland scene with figure and cattle, 19½in. x 24in., Provenance: The artist's family," annotated "Christie's 14/04/76," unverified
Condition

The painting presents well overall, with a warm, readable surface and strong decorative appeal. There is pronounced craquelure throughout, most visible across the pale sky, consistent with age. Scattered small surface spots and what appear to be minor losses are visible in the upper right of the sky. The canvas has been relined, which is why the reverse inscription now reads through onto a lining canvas and the original tacking edges are no longer exposed; relining removes access to the original reverse and any labels or marks it may have carried. I have not had the work examined under UV, so I am describing only what is visible. The colors remain warm and the detail in the figure, cattle, and bridge is crisp.

The frame is an ornate gilt composition frame with foliate corner cartouches, decoratively strong and period to the painting. It shows scattered composition losses and chips at the corners and along the edges, consistent with age and handling. Sound and hanging-ready on braided wire.

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#4

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