A forest road

At the turn of the 19th and 20th century, landscape painters produced increasing numbers of simple views of the countryside, without any historical or literary references. Artists were attracted by natural beauty to make compositions of unusual colour combinations or natural forms, observed from unexpected angles. These landscapes were not meant to illustrate a particular site, but spoke of the homeland in a different way, through recognisably characteristic natural forms, through the special atmosphere captured in the paintings, and through the intimate closeness of the motif.
The painter Franciszek Jurjewicz (1849–1924) was born in Pskov. After studying in France, he linked his fate with Lithuania. In 1882, he stayed in the Römers’ house on Bokšto Street in Vilnius, and shared a studio with Alfred and Edward Mateusz Römer. He painted Vilnius and its environs, as well as the parks of nearby estates. Sweeping panoramic views were his favourite theme, although his work includes pieces in which the composition isolates a single natural motif. A road in a forest shows a particular but also typical motif, a road running through a forest somewhere in Lithuania. As in many other landscapes by Jurjewicz, the canvas is simple and unassuming in terms of the subject matter he selected and its treatment. In this realistic landscape painted from life, the painter was attracted by a simple bend in a dirt road, the shimmer of sunlight across the branches of trees, and the vibrant roadside verdure. He succeeded, through colour, at creating the special feeling experienced by a traveller on a hot summer’s day in the shadow of forest trees.

Text author Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė

At the turn of the 19th and 20th century, landscape painters produced increasing numbers of simple views of the countryside, without any historical or literary references. Artists were attracted by natural beauty to make compositions of unusual colour combinations or natural forms, observed from unexpected angles. These landscapes were not meant to illustrate a particular site, but spoke of the homeland in a different way, through recognisably characteristic natural forms, through the special atmosphere captured in the paintings, and through the intimate closeness of the motif.
The painter Franciszek Jurjewicz (1849–1924) was born in Pskov. After studying in France, he linked his fate with Lithuania. In 1882, he stayed in the Römers’ house on Bokšto Street in Vilnius, and shared a studio with Alfred and Edward Mateusz Römer. He painted Vilnius and its environs, as well as the parks of nearby estates. Sweeping panoramic views were his favourite theme, although his work includes pieces in which the composition isolates a single natural motif. A road in a forest shows a particular but also typical motif, a road running through a forest somewhere in Lithuania. As in many other landscapes by Jurjewicz, the canvas is simple and unassuming in terms of the subject matter he selected and its treatment. In this realistic landscape painted from life, the painter was attracted by a simple bend in a dirt road, the shimmer of sunlight across the branches of trees, and the vibrant roadside verdure. He succeeded, through colour, at creating the special feeling experienced by a traveller on a hot summer’s day in the shadow of forest trees.

Text author Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė