Strauss & co - 6 February 2012, Cape Town

147 development of his characteristic and much-loved landscapes. Artists such as Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Jean-François Millet were seminal in the development from Romanticism to Impressionism in that they turned away from heroic images, favouring natural scenes as their subjects rather than merely as backdrops to dramatic events. Like them, Naudé was inspired to paint directly from nature. And it is this practice that gives his best paintings their authenticity and freshness. The majestic mountains articulated by sunlight and shade, the bright river banks and cool flowing water framed by elegant trees not only attest to Naudé’s acute powers of observation but also confirm his great skill as a painter of vivid and pleasing compositions. in London, where he obtained a thorough grounding in art before going on to the Kunst Akademie in Munich to specialise in portraiture. However, it was the experience of spending the following year – 1895 – painting with members of the Barbizon Group in the Fontainebleau Forest outside Paris that was to have the most profound influence on the