“Mother and Child Feeding Chickens”

BIOGRAPHY:
Bernard De Hoog was a genre and portrait painter. Born in Amsterdam in 1866, De Hoog occupies a distinguished place among the masters of Holland modernism. As well as having lived and worked in Amsterdam, Laren, Haarlem, Bussum, and The Hague, De Hoog studied under J.F. Hulk and J.C. van Essen at the Quellinus school in Amsterdam. His paintings, often interiors with figures, were readily exported to the US, Canada, and England. De Hoog died in The Hague in 1943. Artists of The Hague School worked in Holland from around 1860 to 1900. Like the French Barbizon School, these artists turned away from academic themes based on history or mythology. Instead they made realistic depictions of their immediate surroundings, including rural landscapes, peasant life, beach scenes, and, occasionally, urban streets. They were sensitive to the effects of light and atmosphere, recalling the great tradition of 17th-century Dutch landscape painting. Among the leaders of The Hague School were Jozef Israels, Willem and Jacob Maris, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Paul J.C. Gabriel, Bernard J. Blommers, Hendrik J. Weissenbruch, Johannes Bosboom, Willem Roelofs, Anton Mauve and David A.C. Artz. De Hoog was especially noted for his scenes with children and country life with peasants.