Joseph Farquharson RA (British, 1846-1935) Autumn Wooded landscape with sheep 77 x 107 cm. (30 5/16 x 42 1/8 in.)PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTIONJoseph Farquharson RA (British, 1846-1935)Autumn: Wooded landscape with sheep signed 'J.Farquharson' (lower left)oil on canvas77 x 107 cm. (30 5/16 x 42 1/8 in.)ProvenancePrivate collection, UK, thence by descent to a private collection, BelgiumExhibitedAberdeen, Art Gallery & Museum, Joseph Farquharson of Finzean, 24 August-28 September 1985, no. 78; London, The Fine Art Society, 7-26 October 1985; Edinburgh, The Fine Art Society, 8 November-10 December 1985.Farquharson commissioned a mobile bothy on his estate so he could work virtually en plein air in all weather conditions. From this hut he painted the great woods surrounding the estate on which his reputation rested. In contrast to this direct approach to capturing the landscape, however, he also deliberately composed the view, placing model sheep in the countryside – an approach more like that of still life painting. Here, the sheep are used as a compositional device that balances the lines of the trees and helps draw the viewer along forest track.Sickert viewed Farquharson's approach to painting favourably: 'Farquharson's extraordinary virtuosity has been developed by experience but it arises certainly because he is thinking of telling his story... The subject is the very raison d'etre of the picture. Bloomsbury will perhaps tell you that it is wrong... Fortunately the writ of Bloomsbury does not run to the North of Scotland' (W R Sickert, A Free House, London 1947, p. 204, first published in an article Snow Piece and Palette Knife, The Daily Telegraph, 7 April 1926).