An Arcadian Landscape with Travellers and Herdsmen on a Path

From a notable Waterford family of artists, Robert Carver studied landscape painting under his father, Richard (d. 1754), at the Dublin Society Schools. He had a distinguished career as a scene painter in Dublin before travelling to London in circa 1770 where he worked for David Garrick at Drury Lane and Covent Garden (A. Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, The Painters of Ireland c. 1660-1920, 1979, p. 111). He exhibited at the Free Society in London from 1765 becoming its president in 1777. Edward Dayes wrote 'His style of Landscape .... like G. Poussin's grand, with great beauty of touch ... His colouring is warm ...' (see The Works of the late Edward Dayes, 1805, reprinted 1971, p. 323).