Notes

Jacob Hendrik Pierneef remains one of South Africa’s most sought-after painters, not least because of his capacity to capture the landscapes that he so loved – a passion shared with his many viewers and admirers.

From an examination of the typography in this painting, Ernst van Jaarsveld, Botanist and Horticulturist at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, identifies the location as either the Waterberg, north of Pretoria or the Bankenveld, an area of rare and increasingly endangered vegetation, straddling the North-West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces. It comprises a transitional vegetation type between the grasslands of the high interior plateau and the bushveld of the low interior plateau.

The large trees in the foreground resemble the Eucalyptus or blue gum trees often planted by South African farmers. A winding path between them invites us to step into this composition which the artist has cleverly constructed, employing the curving branches and fine leafy latticework to create an archway though which to view an almost sacred space – the natural environment of the bushveld beyond.

Provenance

Purchased from a Pierneef exhibition in early 1940 and thence by descent.