River Landscape by David Murray (1849-1933) captures a river at sunset, with the two sides depicted in slightly different tones of colour. The left side, with a winding dirt path along the river edge, is a lighter green in tone, with more trees as well. On the right side of the river, Murray uses a bluer tone of paint over the land, which has a base of brown. Brown trees are made up with feathered strokes in the distance. The dryer brush technique that Murray uses creates a build up of paint in the soft tones of light blue and pink in the sky, adding texture to the work that is also present in the water with the brown reflections of the trees. These lighter, more vibrant colours are laid over an overall red wash of paint that Murray laid over the canvas first, which is providing the warmth that a scene at sunset would contain. 

Murray was a celebrated landscape painter, often capturing nature in a way that demonstrated its wonder. His riverside landscapes were often of South England, and became a heavy focus of many of his landscape paintings after 1886. 

Sir David Murray RA HRSA, 1849-1933

Born in Glasgow, Murray spent eleven years in commerce there, studying part-time at Glasgow School of Art under Robert Greenlees before deciding to concentrate on his painting. A prolific artist, he specialised in landscape and seascape. He greatly admired the work of Constable and Corot. Complimenting Murray on his skill in the handling of paint, the Scottish art historian Sir James Caw wrote in 1908 that he was "gifted with a fine sense of colour, frank and unprejudiced vision, and genuine, if not deep, appreciation of the more brilliant aspects of Nature". In 1882 Murray followed in the footsteps of many Scottish painters by settling in London.