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The Return to the Fold

Not on view
Mauve was a leading member of the Hague school, the Dutch counterpart to the Barbizon school of painters in France. He painted everyday subjects drawn from his local landscape in southwest Holland. This work depicts one of Mauve’s favorite and most popular subjects, a shepherd and his flock. Prices varied depending on whether the picture featured "sheep coming," or, as here, the slightly less expensive "sheep going." Vincent van Gogh, who was the cousin of Mauve’s wife, studied with Mauve in the winter of 1881–82, and admired him as "a great interpreter of the fine gray Dutch countryside."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Return to the Fold
  • Artist: Anton Mauve (Dutch, Zaandam 1838–1888 Arnhem)
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 19 3/4 x 33 7/8 in. (50.2 x 86 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
  • Object Number: 14.40.816
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Woman pulling a tow rope. verso: sketch of landscape with figures, Anton Mauve Dutch, Graphite and black chalk
Woman pulling a tow rope. verso: sketch of landscape with figures
Anton Mauve
mid to late 19th century
Portrait of Pieter Frederik van Os, Anton Mauve Dutch, Graphite; framing lines in graphite
Portrait of Pieter Frederik van Os
Anton Mauve
Pieter Frederik van Os
1855
Landscape with Women Working in a Field (recto); Sketch of Landscape with Person on a Path (verso), Anton Mauve Dutch, Charcoal
Landscape with Women Working in a Field (recto); Sketch of Landscape with Person on a Path (verso)
Anton Mauve
19th century
A Shepherdess and Her Flock, Anton Mauve Dutch, Oil on canvas
A Shepherdess and Her Flock
Anton Mauve
Gathering Wood, Anton Mauve Dutch, Oil on canvas
Gathering Wood
Anton Mauve

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