Provenance

Gifted to Mr and Mrs Klooster by De Nedrlandsche Vereeniging, 15 May 1929, and thence by descent.

Notes

Pierneef's ability to interpret so evocatively the grandeur of the vast, jagged, eerie mountains in the Cape is particularly evident in the present lot. Executed in 1929, the painting positions a simple Cape cottage, white-washed and thatched, against a monumental and intimidating natural backdrop. The silhouettes of the high trees with their dark and coppery canopies, and the miniature scale of the buildings in relation to the rising peaks beyond, amplify a sense of natural drama, and the artist managed to capture a sense of the sublime in the atmospheric conditions too. He chose a palette dominated by hazy indigos, pinks and greys: the lower slopes of the mountain are in moody purple, while the lightcatching ridges in the thinner, higher air, are painted with small strokes of lavender and orange.