Sir John Alfred Arnesby Brown R.A. 1866-1955

London, Richard Green;

Private collection

London, Royal Academy, 1909, no.19;

Rome, International Fine Arts Exhibition, 1911, no.135

The Studio, 1909, pg. 30, repr. pg. 32;

Ed. Isidore Spielmann, Souvenir of the British Section, International Fine Arts Exhibition, Rome, 1911, pg. 193, repr. p.189;

W. Shaw Sparrow, Angling in British Art, 1923, repr. opposite pg. 75 

'Few men have such clarity of vision or such sincerity. For him unquestionably truth and beauty were one. When single-ness of heart is matched with mastery of paint, great works are born. His innate reverence and accomplished skill have given us landscapes in the finest tradition of English painting.' (A. R. Batchelor Wylam, An Appreciation, in Catalogue of A Loan Exhibition in Memory of Sir Arnesby Brown, R.A. at Norwich Castle Museum, 1959, p. 5).

In 1911 John Arnesby Brown chose The River, Afterglow as his contribution to the International Fine Arts Exhibition held in Rome. The exhibition highlighted the wealth of British artists and included many of the most famous images of British art history, by both living and deceased artists. Perhaps never before or since has such a representative collection of British art been assembled and the Rome exhibition was a major exhibition for any of the artists represented. Although the exhibition was slightly inclined in favour of the figurative painters, landscape was well represented and with The River, Afterglow, Brown balanced both landscape and figures beautifully. The exhibition was an opportunity for collectors and museums to display the best of those artists who were no longer living and for younger artists still in the prime of their career to display what they could achieve. The River, Afterglow was without doubt Brown’s most accomplished picture to date and arguably the most accomplished of all his pictures for its balance of composition and harmony of colour.

In 1900 The Studio, something of a champion of Brown's work, recognised his qualities and flexible talents thus, 'To most people he is probably best known as a painter of landscape and cattle; but although quite a large proportion of his pictures could be classified under this heading, he is by no means an artist of one direction. He has produced several memorable paintings of the sea, and several pastorals in which human interest is paramount...' (The Work of Arnesby Brown, in The Studio, 1900, p. 216). The River, Afterglow is the finest of the 'pastorals', which demonstrates the quality of vision which The Studio explained as, 'that desire to arrive at something beyond the mere crude assertion of his capacity for seeing. ' (Ibid The Studio, p. 216). It was with a reputation based upon this approach to art, that the Chantrey Bequest purchased Morning for the nation in 1901 and which led to his election as an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1903, a full member in 1915 and earned him a knighthood in 1938. The Studio had perceived that Brown was destined for great accolade, ' As his powers ripen his pictures become more impressive; and, remarkable as his success has been so far, we may fairly expect him to far surpass in coming years the best of his present record' (Ibid The Studio, p. 216). In 1909 when The River, Afterglow was painted and exhibited as the artist's only offering at the Royal Academy, Brown was at his most accomplished, his work comparing well to that of Henry La Thangue and Brown's comrades in Newlyn. By 1917, The Studio recognised that Arnesby Brown was a highly important and popular painter, 'If popularity be the test of art, and assuredly it is one test, the landscapes of Mr Arnesby Brown, R.A., will rank high in the art history of the present generation... it would be difficult to point to a living painter whose work appeals to a wider public. Nor is the popularity of Mr. Brown's landscapes hard to explain. It is due, first of all, to their broadly bucolic interest.' (Charles Marriott, The Recent Work of Arnesby Brown, R.A., in The Studio, October 1917, Vol. LXII, p. 129)

An oil sketch for the two little fisher-boys in The River, Afterglow in a private collection, captures the same sensitivity of light and colour and suggests that the present painting was not painted plein air, but composed in Brown’s studio, every element considered with deliberation and care. The effect is never attained quite so beautifully again in Brown’s work and The River, Afterglow must be considered to be his masterpiece, or at least one of his best compositions in private ownership.