Anthonij "Anton" Rudolf Mauve (18 September 18385 February 1888) was a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the

Hague School The Hague School is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of relat ...

. He signed his paintings 'A. Mauve' or with a monogrammed 'A.M.'. A master colorist, he was a very significant early influence on his cousin-in-law

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

. His best-known paintings depict peasants working in the fields. His paintings of flocks of sheep were especially popular with American patrons, so popular that a price differential developed between scenes of "sheep coming" and "sheep going".

Life and work

Anton Mauve - Morgenrit langs het strand

Anton Mauve was born on 18 September 1838 in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Za ...

, a town in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. A year after his birth, his father Willem Carel Mauve, a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

chaplain, was sent to

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, the capital city of the province where Mauve grew up. He was apprenticed to the painter

Pieter Frederik van Os Pieter Fredrik van Os (8 October 1808 – 31 March 1892) was a painter from the Northern Netherlands. He was the son and pupil of Pieter Gerardus van Os and worked mainly in the spirit of his father.Pieter Fredrik van Os in the RKD Biography Va ...

followed by Wouter Verschuur. In his further development he worked with Paul Gabriël, painting from nature, and they regularly stayed and worked together at

Oosterbeek Oosterbeek is a village in the eastern part of Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Renkum in the province of Gelderland, about west of Arnhem. The oldest part of Oosterbeek is the Benedendorp (Lower Village), on the northern bank o ...

, the 'Dutch

Barbizon Barbizon () is a commune (town) in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Barbizonais''. Art history The Barbizon school of painters is name ...

'. He was a friend of

Jozef Israëls Jozef Israëls (27 January 1824 – 12 August 1911) was a Dutch painter. He was a leading member of the group of landscape painters referred to as the Hague School and, during his lifetime, "the most respected Dutch artist of the second half of ...

and

Willem Maris Willem Maris (18 February 1844 – 10 October 1910) was a Dutch landscape painter of the Hague School. Biography He was born in The Hague. Willem was the third in a family of five children. His two brothers Jacob and Matthijs Maris preceded him ...

and, encouraged by their example, he abandoned his early highly finished manner for a freer, looser method of painting, and the brilliant palette of his youthful work for a tender lyric harmony which is generally restricted to delicate greys, greens, and light blue. Most of Mauve's work depicts people and animals in outdoor settings. In his ''Morning Ride'' in the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

, for example, fashionable equestrians at the seacoast are seen riding away from the viewer. An unconventional detail, horse droppings in the foreground, attests his commitment to realism. In 1872, Mauve settled in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

where he became a leading member of the

of painters and one of the founders of the

Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij The Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij (''Dutch drawing society'') was an international art society founded in 1876 in The Hague. The purpose of the society was to promote watercolor painting as an art in itself, which until then had been known only as ...

in 1876, as well as playing a leading role in the development of the

Pulchri Studio Pulchri Studio (Latin:"For the study of beauty") is a Dutch art society, art institution and art studio based in The Hague ('s-Gravenhage), Netherlands. This institute began in 1847 at the home of painter Lambertus Hardenberg. Since 1893 the c ...

, The Hague's most influential art society at the time. In November 1874 he married Ariëtte (Jet) Carbentus (1856–1894), and together they had a son, Anton (1876–1962), who also became a painter. In the last two years of his life, Mauve settled in the village of Laren in the region surrounding

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

called the

Gooi The Gooi () is an area around Hilversum, in the centre of the Netherlands. It is a slightly hilly area characterised by its green landscape, its historical charm, the wealth of its inhabitants, and its villas. The Gooi is known in the Netherlan ...

area. The group of painters who settled there, including

and Albert Neuhuys, came to be known collectively as the Larense School and the region around the Gooi was dubbed 'Mauve land' as far afield as the United States. Mauve will have influenced many other painters one of whom was the Scottish painter, Robert McGregor (1847–1922). Mauve died suddenly in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

on 5 February 1888.

Relationship with Vincent van Gogh

Anton Mauve - Portrait of Ariëtte (Jet) Carbentus, the Artist's Wife

Mauve was married to van Gogh's cousin Ariëtte (Jet) Sophia Jeannette Carbentus, and he was a major influence on van Gogh, who revered him. He is mentioned, directly or indirectly, in 152 of van Gogh's surviving letters. Van Gogh spent three weeks at Mauve's studio at the end of 1881 and during that time he made his first experiments in painting under Mauve's tutelage, first in oils and then early the next year in watercolour (previously he had concentrated on drawing). Mauve continued to encourage him and lent him money to rent and furnish a studio, but later grew cold towards him and did not return a number of letters. In a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh dated 7 May 1882, van Gogh describes "a very regrettable conversation" in which Mauve told him their association was "over and done with" adding by way of explanation that van Gogh had a vicious character. Van Gogh continued his letter by expressing his sorrow, and then launches defiantly into a passionate defence of his relationship with Clasina "Sien" Maria Hornik (Sien), a pregnant prostitute he had befriended. The presumption must be that Mauve had heard of the relationship (although van Gogh's letter does not say so expressly) and broke off the association because of it. However, their relationship had already become strained by late January. Nevertheless, van Gogh continued to hold Mauve in very high esteem and dedicated one of his most iconic paintings to Mauve's memory after hearing of his sudden death. Mauve's mother Elisabeth Margaretha Hirschig was a first cousin twice removed of

Anton Hirschig Antonius (Anton) Matthias Hirschig (18 February 1867, Naarden - 6 November 1939, Alkmaar), also known as Tony or Tom, was a Dutch artist who, as a young man, lodged with Vincent van Gogh at the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise at the time of Van G ...

, the young Dutch artist who was a fellow lodger with van Gogh at the

Auberge Ravoux The Auberge Ravoux is a French historic landmark located in the heart of the village of Auvers-sur-Oise. It is known as the House of Van Gogh (''Maison de Van Gogh'') because the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life ...

at the time of van Gogh's death.

Selected works

Anton Mauve - Landscape with Cattle - Google Art Project

*''Entering the Fold'' (c. 1885–8), drawing and watercolour,

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

*''Milking Time'' (c. 1875), oil on canvas,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

*''Landscape with cattle'', chalk on paper,

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

*''Landscape with Cattle'', oil on canvas,

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

*''Shepherdess'', oil on canvas,

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

*''Morning Ride along the Beach'' (1876), oil on canvas,

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

*''Riders in the Snow in the Haagse Bos'' (1879), watercolour and gouache,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

*''De Torenlaan te Laren'' (1886), oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam *''Ariëtte Carbentus, wife of the artist, sitting in the dunes'' (c. 1876), oil on canvas, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague (private collection) *''Gathering Seaweed'', oil on canvas,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

*''Changing Pasture'' (c. 1880s), oil on canvas,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York *''The Return of the Flock, Laren'' (c. 1886 -1887), oil on canvas,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, Philadelphia *''Digging up a Tree'', watercolor,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

*''Returning Home'', oil on wood,

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

*''A Shepherdess and Her Flock'', oil on canvas,

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437043

Bibliography

* Dorn, Roland, Schröder, Klaus Albrecht & Sillevis, John, ed.: ''Van Gogh und die Haager Schule'' (exh. cat. Kunstforum, Wien 1996), Skira, Milan 1996
Engel, E. P. "Anton Mauve". Academische Uitgeverij Haentjens Dekker & Gumbert, 1967 (University of Michigan)
* Naifeh, Steven; Smith, Gregory White. Van Gogh: The Life. Profile Books, 2011. * Tralbaut, Marc Edo. ''Vincent van Gogh, le mal aimé''. Edita, Lausanne (French) & Macmillan, London 1969 (English); reissued by Macmillan, 1974 and by Alpine Fine Art Collections, 1981. .

Life and work

Relationship with Vincent van Gogh

Selected works

Bibliography

See also