Joseph Thors, R.A.

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Joseph Thors, R.A.
(British, 1835-1884)

A Wooded River Landscape at Sundown

Signed 'JThors' lower left

Oil on Canvas, 24 x 20 in (61 x 50.8 cms)

	Provenance: By descent to Merrill Holms, Buffalo, New York; Benjamans Gallery, Buffalo Museums and Collections: National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Tate Gallery, London; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Bristol Museum; many other private and public collections.

	Joseph Thors was a highly-respected 19th-century British landscape painter from London. He also worked in the Midlands region, the area surrounding Birmingham, England's second largest city at that time. Thors was regarded as an important member of the Birmingham School, a prestigious group of artists from the Midlands area. Thors exhibited over 40 times at the most prestigious galleries in London, such as the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and Suffolk Street. Not surprisingly, he also had numerous exhibitions in Birmingham. His landscape paintings are described as rustic scenes with cottages, figures and animals, painted in a style clearly influenced by the Norwich School. Our Wooded River Landscape is predominantly executed in an almost monochromatic palette, spectacularly heightened by the golden glow left behind by the setting sun. The depth of the landscape is deftly created by the placement of horizon in the middle ground, with the river in the foreground balanced by the distant windmill.