How does this artwork elucidate its abstract?
Passing Mother's Grave (Dutch: Langs Moeders Graf), also known as Passing the Churchyard, is an oil painting on canvas made in 1856 by Jozef Israëls, a Dutch realist artist and a representative of the Hague School of painters. The subject of the painting is a widowed fisherman walking past his deceased wife's grave with his two children.
In the early stages of his career, Israëls primarily painted portraits, genre scenes, and historical subjects. Passing Mother's Grave marked one of his initial forays into Realism by depicting peasant life and set the stage for the artist's lasting fascination with the theme of fishermen. This painting quickly became one of his most renowned works; it gained popularity and was widely reproduced in print reproductions including several painted copies executed by the artist himself.
Due to its focus on the working class, the painting has been compared with The Stone Breakers, an 1849 painting by the French realist painter Gustave Courbet. The art historian Sheila D. Muller has written that it accomplishes a "monumental treatment of the commonplace". While generally considered among Israëls's most famous and popular paintings, the work has also been criticised as sentimental or "mawkish".Passing Mother's Grave is considered a prominent example of the Dutch realist movement in the second half of the nineteenth century. It influenced later artists in the Netherlands, including the Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, who listed it among his favorite works.
Gustave Courbet Jozef Israëls historical subjects realist fishermen Hague School print reproductions genre scenes Vincent van Gogh Post-Impressionist working class The Stone Breakers oil painting portrait