19thC Oil on Canvas French Pastoral Realism Barbizon School Landscape Painting by Harry Thompson, 1885

A fine & large 19th Century oil on canvas Barbizon School painting, circa 1885, a French pastoral landscape with sheep and their shepherdess, by Harry Thompson (1850-1901).

Harry Thompson’s painting style was firmly rooted in 19th-century Pastoral Realism and had significant stylistic ties to the Barbizon School & early Tonalism, he was a talented and accomplished artist, his work showing influence of the French Realist; Jean-François Millet . 
Working largely in France, his approach blended traditional British landscape sensibilities with the atmospheric and luminescent techniques popular in continental Europe at the time.
This large painting is an outstanding example of the artist's work, it depicts a pastoral landscape in Picardy, located in Northern France, where Thompson had spent most of his summers. The painting portrays grazing sheep with their shepherdess standing to the side, and dressed in peasant clothing.
The painting shows the soft yet deliberate brushstrokes of Thompson, with the use thickly applied paint to provide texture to the sheep's fleece and the heather they are grazing on.
The painting is signed lower left; "H. Thompson", the painting is housed in the original gilded gesso and limewood frame. The painting and frame are in excellent antique condition, this very attractive painting is ready to hang on your wall and grace your space.
A very similar painting in size and subject is; "Landscape with Sheep, Picardy", an oil-on-canvas painting from the late 19th century that is a permanent fixture of the European Painting and Sculpture collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist's Biography
Harry Thompson was an influential English painter and art instructor who spent a major portion of his career in France before his death in London in 1901. Best known for his atmospheric pastoral landscapes and depictions of livestock, Thompson's signature works are celebrated for capturing the quiet emotion of the late-19th-century European countryside. Thompson was born in London, he received classical training and eventually relocated to France to immerse himself in the continental art scene, a standard path for ambitious 19th-century British painters.
Thompson specialized in pastoral oil paintings, with a strong emphasis on rural landscapes featuring shepherds, flocks of sheep, and quiet ponds. He frequently exhibited his artwork in France, most notably building his reputation through appearances at the Paris Salons. Beyond his own body of work, Thompson was a sought-after mentor in the expatriate artistic community in Paris. He served as an art instructor to several notable American artists who traveled abroad to refine their skills, including Tonalist painter Charlotte Buell Coman and painter Georgia Timken Fry. In 1896, Thompson married one of his pupils, the American painter and engraver Ellen Burpee Baker. Following their marriage, the couple established their home and studio on rue Lemaitre in Puteaux, France, moving seamlessly within the active American and British art colonies of Paris. 
Thompson's work is shown in many respected museums and galleries and is sought after by private collectors alike.

Imperial

36 inches high × 42 inches wide × 3 inches deep

Metric

high × wide x deep

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