Description
This mid-nineteenth-century oil on canvas, in the manner of Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen (German, 1813–1886), depicts two young girls resting on a hillside, their bundles gathered beside them. The older girl clasps a rosary, her gaze turned toward the distance; the younger sits below and slightly forward, head bowed. The composition opens onto a distant town, its church spire rising against a pale sky warmed with orange and purple. The sky is the most commanding passage. Its swirling clouds draw the eye across the scene, and the light is handled with notable control; the effect is an altogether serene, contemplative image, a moment at dawn.
The painting is housed in a carved giltwood and gesso frame with high-relief corner cartouches at the corners, floral bosses at the center of each, beaded trim, and a running rocaille motif.
Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen, commonly known as Meyer von Bremen (1813–1886), was a German genre painter specializing in biblical, peasant, and family scenes. He studied at the Düsseldorf Academy, where he mainly painted religious and historical subjects. In 1840, after traveling in Bavaria and Switzerland, he began to develop the sentimental genre scenes focused on everyday life — especially among the Hessian peasantry — and the portrayal of childhood and family for which he became known. He spent the remainder of his career in Berlin, becoming a professor at the Berlin Academy in 1863. He was also a member of the Amsterdam Academy and the Order of Leopold, and received medals at exhibitions in Berlin and Philadelphia.
Attribution Statement. Unsigned. Not by the hand of Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen (German, 1813–1886); offered in the manner of the artist.
With Frame: H=29.5 in. W= 26 in. D=4 in. 12 lbs.
