20th Century
The Caravan Encampment

Oil on board
Image size: 13 x 10 inches (33 x 25.5 cm)
Contemporary frame
£600

 

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This colourful scene depicts a caravan encampment settled in the square of a small town. The loose and impressionistic nature of the work brings with it a vitality and energy. While areas of the painting have achieved a sense of specific detail, such as the horses’s head in the foreground, the artist has left other sections loosely articulated with his preparatory pencil drawings and wooded board showing through. In areas where the artist has been economical in their mark marking, solid forms are still  identifiable as can be seen in the crowd of people standing in distance at the back of the space.

Perhaps the most compelling element of the work is the chosen palette from which the whole scene is given a glowing and infectious warmth. The carefully selected areas of deep shadow, cast by the grazing horse and cart, provide the necessary contrast to ground the rest of this sun-drenched scene.