Woodcutters

Woodcutters with a saw, working in a wood where one of the trees has died. Timber work sat in the same repertory as the sheepfolds, plough teams and heath paths that kept Mauve in business, though he painted it far less often. The scale is the surprise here. The canvas measures 111 by 160 centimetres, several times the size of the small panels and modest canvases he usually supplied to his dealers. No year is attached to the picture. The museum record offers only the span of Mauve's working life, so the date is left blank rather than guessed at.