Rural landscape

Author: Marszewski Jozef, 1827 - 1874

Created: second half of the XIXth century.

Material / technique: board, oil.

Dimensions: 24,5 x 32,5 cm. 

Signature: Józef Marszewski  (in the bottom-right corner of the painting).

This classic piece by a talented landscape-painter and pupil of Vincentas Dmachauskas presents the artist as a romantic realist. The authenticity of the unadorned surroundings and their implied insignificance, the detailed plasticity, meticulous drawing and attention to everyday life, all point to the artist having internalized the lessons in realist painting he had taken in the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts as well as in Warsaw and in Vilnius.In contrast, the structure of the composition, with its low-lying horizon opening up the expanse of the sky, so beloved by the romantics, reveals J. Marševskis as an artist with a soul steeped in romanticism. He could admire a simple country cabin, drab landscapes, and tiny figures of the villagers lending liveliness to the muted greyish-brown painting. The inner dualism of the artist is betrayed by his treating the landscape elements as plastic. He paints the cabin and the surrounding nature in a masterful realist manner, attempting to convey the material traits of every item or object of nature. When pinning down the small details, the light flashes, and the rapid waves of water, the artist works with a painstaking attention, whereas touching his brush to the open sky that predominates the painting offers him freedom and relief. The space allows for his drive, poetry, and his ability to shape with ease, creating the impression of an atmosphere and air in motion.The painting manifests the mid-nineteenth century's trends of internalizing a progressive realist art style that aims to break from academia. It is also an excellent example of national realism, which had embraced a romantic worldview and love for one's homeland and its people. The painting was most likely created after 1860, when after his lifelong wanderings the artist came back to Vilnius, his hometown.The majority of J. Marševskis' works are preserved outside of Lithuania, so "Landscape with Cabin" deserves exceptional acknowledgment and the return of the artist's creations to the original medium. (Author Dr. Lijana Natalevičienė).