An Italian Woman Crossing a Stream with Children | 1862 By Artist Johann Köhler

 

An Italian Woman Crossing a Stream with Children (1862)

Painting by the Estonian artist Johann Köhler (1826-1899) , painted in 1862. It is part of the collection of the Kumu Museum in Tallinn. The painting is in oil on canvas and measures 82.5 cm high and 53.5 cm wide. The picture is one of the examples of the perception of Italy in Northern Europe and belongs to the realist works of Köhler, who has departed from academic painting. From 1858 to 1859 the artist was in Italy, so the painting is inspired by his own experience. It belongs to the so-called Italian period of the artist's work.

The painting depicts a woman in full growth. She steps into the water with her left foot, while her right foot is still on the shore. She is wearing a traditional costume and a necklace. On her head is a basket in which there is a small child. In her left hand, the woman carries a vessel. To the right, next to her, a small boy in an open cape is standing in the water. The stream occupies only a small area in the foreground of the picture. Behind it opens a landscape with a rocky shore and vegetation. In the upper left corner of the image there is a single large, spreading tree, which with its crown rises above a child in a basket on a woman's head. The landscape and the scene in the foreground form a single compositional whole. This Köhler canvas stands out for its vibrant color palette.

" An Italian Woman Crossing a Stream with Children " - 1862 by  artist Johann Köhler (1826-1899)