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| Artist | Attributed to manner of Berchem, Nicolaes (Dutch painter, printmaker, and draftsman, 1620-1683) Attributed to Barker, Thomas (English painter and lithographer, 1769-1847) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to Carree, Michiel (Dutch painter and engraver, 1657-1727 or 1747) |
| Title | The Watering Place |
| Alternative/previous titles | A Small Landscape with Old Castle and Trees, Cattle Drinking; Landscape with Cattle |
| Date earliest | possibly about 1800 |
| Date latest | 1847 |
| Material | oil on panel |
| Measurements | 34 x 47 cm (estimate) |
| Description | Although the subject and setting recall the landscapes of Nicolaes Berchem, this scene was possibly painted by the British artist Thomas Barker in a style imitating the celebrated seventeenth-century Dutch master. Barker frequently painted pastiches in the manner of famous artists of the past. Berchem's paintings were in vogue in the eighteenth century and much of the nineteenth, and his compositions were well known through engravings. When Holburne acquired the painting it was probably attributed to Michiel Carree, a pupil of Berchem; this attribution to a less prestigious artist may have been calculated to account for any perceived shortfall in technique. |
| Subject | landscape; animal (goat, cattle, donkey, sheep) |
| Collection | Holburne Museum of Art, Bath |
| Current accession number | A56 |
| Acquisition details | Bequeathed by Miss Mary Anne Barbara Holburne 1882. |
| Provenance | Sir Thomas William Holburne, by 1867-74; by descent to Mary Anne Barbara Holburne (1802-1882), 1874. |
| Principal publications | Catalogue of the Pictures and Library, Engravings, Etchings and Miniatures Belonging to Sir Thomas William Holburne, Bart., Bath, 1867, cat. no. 25, p. 2, as by Michiel Carree; Chaffers, W.,Catalogue of the Holburne of Menstrie Art Museum Bath, London, 1887, cat. no. 1345, p. 66, as by Michiel Carree; Moeckler, F., Holburne of Menstrie Art Museum, Bath, 1902, cat. no. 59, p. 2, as by Michiel Carree. |
| Notes | T. W. Holburne's seal on reverse of panel; inscription and stencil on reverse of panel, red paint: 'H. 3218 / HOLBURNE / BATH / MUSEUM'; T. W. Holburne's label on reverse, inscribed in ink: 'M[ich[?]]ael Carre'. H. A. Buttery rejected the attribution to Carre, and described A56 as 'poor - second rate', 1906; attributed by Mr Alec Martin, Christie's, to Thomas Barker, in the manner of Dirk van Bergen; attributed by H. A. Buttery to Barker [?], in the manner of Berchem. |
| Rights status | © The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath |
| Author | Dr Susan Steer |
