6. John Berney Ladbrooke (British, 1803-1879)

"The Windmill Near Mousehold Heath, Norfolk", circa 1859.
Oil on canvas, unsigned, framed.
24" x 36".

6,000/9,000     SOLD: $5,750.00

In this attractive and well preserved painting of his native Norfolk, John Berney Ladbrooke successfully combined several landscape traditions within a single image. The clusters of picturesque incident--a village church in the central distance, a brook with submerged logs in the foreground, a running fence in the shadows on the right--ultimately derive from the work of British landscapist John Constable.

The arrangement of wedges of land against brightly illuminated passages, particularly the deep glowing vistas placed between dark groves of trees, show the profound influence of the Dutch 17th-century masters Jacob van Ruisdael and Meindert Hobbema. In the present work, Ladbrooke's dramatic sky together with his placement of a windmill atop a rise, refer to Ruisdael's famous "Mill at Wijk."

Ladbrooke was the third son and student of Robert Ladbrooke. He exhibited from 1817 on at the Norwich Society of Artists, and in London at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and Suffolk Street from 1821 through 1872. His work, justly celebrated for its masterful presentation of grand oaks, is well represented in the Norwich Museum.

Ladbrooke's technique, while careful, was also quite lush. A particularly beautiful passage in the present work is the field of long silky grass on the right, which forms a highly sensuous contrast to the more roughly textured old oaks.

Condition: Relined, cleaned.