Yale Center for British Art

Creator:: Sebastian Pether, 1790–1844, British
Title:: River Scene
Date:: 1840
Materials & Techniques:: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:: 12 1/4 × 16 1/4 inches (31.1 × 41.3 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1981.25.502
Gallery Label:: Sebastian Pether’s father, Abraham Pether, was also an accomplished painter, and he was known as “Moonlight Pether” for his frequent nocturnal landscapes. The younger Pether continued to romanticize moonlight and fire in night scenes, where color harmony is as instrumental as subject. He would frequently place castles in his imaginative landscapes. Here, Pether paints an intimate glimpse of life by the riverside, humanizing the castle by focusing on life outside of it. Gallery label for Art in Focus: The British Castle - A Symbol in Stone (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-04-07 - 2017-08-06)