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| Artist | Attributed toBarker, Benjamin, II (British painter, 1776-1838) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to Barker, J. Paul (British artist, active early 19th century) Previously attributed to Hobbema, Meindert (Dutch painter, 1638-1709) |
| Title | Landscape with Watermill, Cottages and Figures |
| Date earliest | possibly about 1810 |
| Date latest | possibly about 1820 |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 62.7 x 87 cm |
| Inscription | front lr 'M Hobbema' |
| Description | This copy after Meindert Hobbema's Wooded Landscape with a Watermill (1660s, Dulwich Picture Gallery) was probably painted by a member of the Barker family of artists of Bath. The Barkers made numerous copies and pastiches after renowned old masters, as well as original compositions. Hobbema's naturalistic landscapes were increasingly appreciated in nineteenth-century England. It is thought that Hobbema based this scene on a real location, since he used the group of buildings in another work. |
| Subject | landscape; figure |
| Collection | Holburne Museum of Art, Bath |
| Current accession number | A117 |
| 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. 108, p. 5, as by Hobbema; Chaffers, W.,Catalogue of the Holburne of Menstrie Art Museum Bath, London, 1887, cat. no. 1427, p. 71, as by Hobbema; Moeckler, F., Holburne of Menstrie Art Museum, Bath, 1902, cat. no. 201, p. 7, as by Benjamin Barker after Hobbema; Catalogue, Pictures and Miniatures, I, 1927, cat. no. 117, p. 36, as possibly by J. Paul Barker or Benjamin Barker after Hobbema; Wright, C., Dutch Painting in the Seventeenth Century: Images of a Golden Age in British Collections, London, 1989, p. 274, as eighteenth-century copy after Hobbema. |
| Notes | Stamped into reverse of stretcher: 'C. MORILL / LINER'; inscription and stencil on reverse of canvas, red paint: 'H. 3299 / HOLBURNE / BATH / MUSEUM'; inscribed in chalk, reverse of frame: '12'. Dismissed as 'rubbish' by H. A. Buttery, 1906; Mr Alec Martin, Christie's, attributed A117 to J. Paul or Benjamin Barker, after Hobbema. T. W. Holburne's label on reverse of stretcher: 'M. Hobbema / embellished with the / charming figures of / Adrian Van der Velde / re-lined in 1863 T. W. H.'. The inscription is presumed to be false. |
| Rights status | © The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath |
| Author | Dr Susan Steer |
