The Approach of a Storm

Description The son of a Flemish artist employed at the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, Van Marcke himself decorated porcelains at Sèvres for nine years. An older colleague, Constant Troyon, encouraged him to paint in oils directly from nature. In 1857, Van Marcke began to submit paintings to the Paris salons, and, within a few years he had gained renown as a painter of cattle, a category of art that appealed to city dwellers in Europe and America in the late 19th century. In this scene, Van Marcke depicts cattle grazing in the swamps of the Landes, a region along the southwest coast of France. In the background, a cowherd walking on stilts tends the cattle.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/01/1993	Treatment	surface cleaned; varnish reduced; coated; inpainted; other

Exhibitions

• Salon, Paris, 1872. Palais de l'Elysees, Paris. 1872.
• Before Monet: Landscape Painting in France and Impressionist Masters: Highlights from The Walters Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.

Provenance Purchased by William T. Walters (through George A. Lucas as agent), Baltimore, June 8, 1872 [1]; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931. [1] The Diary of George A. Lucas, p. 363.

Inscriptions [Signature] In black at lower left: E. M. Van Marcke

Credit Acquired by William T. Walters, 1872