Léon Adolphe Belly, Woodland View With Pond

Léon Adolphe Belly, Woodland View With PondThis 19th century oil painting by French artist Lon Adolphe Belly (1827 1877) depicts a woodland view with a pond and women washing clothes. Its a gentle portrayal and a far stretch from his grander orientalist paintings. With relentless dedication, Belly undertook numerous exhausting missions to the expansive plains and claustrophobic heat of 19th century North Africa where travel was debilitating, particularly for a dapper Frenchman, built for the

This 18th-century oil painting depicts the penitent Mary Magdalene before a cave dwelling and mountainous scenery

The coiffure was a ‘must-have’ hairstyle in the 1890s as this article from 1894 explains:

The colouring is simple yet sublime - earthy natural tones working in harmony to describe nature’s splendour

a rustic old building in the traditional Dutch style

He’s at home

It’s one of his finest works

She’s sitting at a well-worn table and there’s an open book in front of her

Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso to name but a few

000 achieved for ‘Sunday Afternoon On A Terrace’ at Bonhams in 2008

which was hung over the fireplace in the same room for which Rembrandt painted ‘The Night Watch’

Imagine you’re the priest

he returned to live in Bordeaux from Paris and perhaps looked to find a calmer environment