Drover with Cattle on a Country Road. Attributed to R. Havell Jr. (1793-1878). Oil on canvas. Inscribed on reverse: "October 1853". 18 x 25 inches canvas, 23 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches framed. This gorgeous oil painting was created in the mid-nineteenth century by a member of the American School; a group of artists during this time period who extensively painted landscapes and eden-esque depictions of nature in the US. At the time this painting was created, Westward Expansion was well underway, and a new reverence for nature found its way into painting. This appreciation goes hand in hand with the rise of a nationalistic spirit, and resonates with the sense of Manifest Destiny that was sweeping the land.
The Romantic movement in literature fortified this movement, and instilled a sense of awe and appreciation of the outdoors in many during the early eighteen hundreds, giving birth to the simultaneous grandeur and dark mystique of nature exemplified in both the Hudson River and American Schools of painting. Poets in England and Europe looked at nature in all its glorious detail and found in it a Divine Presence. There was a new exultation in the wilderness, a feeling of inspiration drawn from its beauty, as well as a reverence for its unfamiliarity and vastness.
The appeal of the American school was especially felt by Nineteenth-century Americans- a proud people who wanted to see the boundaries of their new nation. A curiosity about its wilderness replaced the fear felt by many early colonists, though the sense of mans’ smallness in the great outdoors is still palpable in many landscapes from this time period. The artist’s use of light reflects new public attitudes about the the land.
The soft light of dusk filters through the trees in this highly detailed painting, establishing a sense of calm as the drover, dwarfed by large trees on the hillside, directs his cattle home. Here, the light works in two contradictory ways: the impending darkness and diminutive size of the figure and his charges suggest the dominance of nature over man, and the frailty of human life in the untamed outdoors. This charming oil painting is a magnificent example of the changing American landscape as settlers pushed their way out west.