Paul Arntzenius artwork • painting • previously for sale A still life with herring

An admirer of the Hague Impressionists, Paul Arntzenius – a nephew of Floris Arntzenius – reckoned himself a late exponent of the Hague School. Yet that characterisation does not do full justice to his distinctive pictorial language and the mood of his works. An Impressionist pur sang, Arntzenius was particularly indebted to the painter W.B. Tholen. As his mentor, Tholen instilled in his younger pupil an appreciation for nature that resonates in his myriad depictions of landscapes and water. Their dreamy, hushed quality is repeated in his still lifes too, with groupings of ordinary objects such as a jug and a bulb of garlic or basket of fruit.