Tinus de Jongh

This original Tinus de Jongh oil painting owns the provenance of being purchased directly from the artist and has been held as a family heirloom ever since. 

Tinus de Jongh the person, was forbidden by his parents to study art. Born in Amsterdam in 1885, he was a self taught artist from the age of 11. His early street scenes of Amsterdam gained attention when the Stedelijk Museum purchased one of his works. He initially worked as a decorator before emigrating to South Africa in 1921, settling in Diep River, Cape Town.

Here the intense African sunlight transfused itself into his oil paintings, transforming his muted Dutch style into various scenes illuminated by de Jongh's signature Day-Go.

Majestic landscapes of the Cederberg, Koue Bokkeveld, Bainskloof, Swartberg, Klein Karoo and 'Meiringspoort' (such as the work shown here) are the most coveted at auction and for good reason.

They appear as early environmentalist portals; shrouded in a mysterious joyous mood, governed by rugged rock, veiled in the vastness of wide open mountainous spaces and bedecked in biodiversity. Just as cutting-edge 21st century science is beginning to communicate the healing effect of being in nature, so these painterly portals gain ground, the effects of their figurative birdsong now being carried across the time barrier, from antique to Al.

De Jongh achieved this intense feeling of holiness that only nature can arouse, with a humble palette-knife after abandoning the careful brushstroke of his youth, for the freedom of the open road. By applying wet light paint directly onto wet dark paint this remarkable South African painter was able to work productively, fulfilling the unbridled demand for his works and capturing the vivid, saturated atmosphere and abundant magnificence of the Western Cape.