Anthonij (Anton) Rudolf Mauve (18 September 1838, Zaandam, North Holland – 5 February 1888, Arnhem) is a Dutch realist painter who is a leading member of the Hague School.
He signs his paintings 'A.
Mauve' or with a monogrammed 'A.M.'.
A master colorist, he is a very significant early influence on his cousin-in-law Vincent van Gogh.
Most of Mauve's work depicts people and animals in outdoor settings.
In his Morning Ride in the Rijksmuseum, for example, fashionable equestrians at the seacoast are seen riding away from the viewer.
An unconventional detail, horse droppings in the foreground, attests his commitment to realism.
His best known paintings depict peasants working in the fields.
His paintings of flocks of sheep are especially popular with American patrons, so popular indeed that a price differential developed between scenes of "sheep coming" and "sheep going".