Suzanne Ludvigsen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Dankvart Dreyer, 2008, no. 167.

Exhibited: Storstrøm Art Museum & The Skovgaard Museum, “Udsigt til guldalderen”, 2005–2006, pl. 28.

Literature: Iben Overgaard, “Rejsen til det ukendte” in the exhibition catalogue “Udsigt til guldalderen”, Storstrøm Art Museum & The Skovgaard Museum, 2008, mentioned pp. 190–191, ill. p. 269.

Suzanne Ludvigsen, “Maleren Dankvart Dreyer”, 2008, vol. I, ill. p. 203, described pp. 203–204, & vol. II, ill. and described p. 79. Ludvigsen writes about the painting (in Danish):

“In 1843, Dankvart Dreyer travelled to the areas around the Limfjord, where two of his full brothers, the priests Christian Ernst Dreyer and Jørgen Gantzel Blicher Dreyer [...] had vocations in Tørring and Nors, respectively. On the way to or from visiting the brothers, the artist probably passed the small medieval manor house Lerkenfeldt. It is located at the Lerkenfeldt stream, which flows into Lovns Bredning near the town of Gedsted.” (p. 79). “The artist has stood east of the stream. In the right half of the painting we see Lerkenfeldt's beautiful white and red buildings surrounded by large trees. A red half-timbered house with a thatched roof behind the farm marks the transition to an open, rolling landscape. An ingeniously constructed wooden bridge over the stream and a solitary bird high up in the blue sky are typical Dreyerian pictorial ingredients, which even without his signature among the reeds and water plants speak clearly about the painter of the work. At the edge of the moat, a man in a green coat and long boots walks with a rifle under his arm. Perhaps the owner of the place on his way out hunting [...]. There is no indication that the Funen artist knew the manor's then owner, Mathias Kjeldsen - let alone that the work was commissioned. Perhaps Dreyer, with Lerkenfeldt, had chosen a typical Danish and thus national memorial according to N. L. Høyen's instructions. Inspired, for example, by Lundbye's Zealandic landscape with Dragsholm castle in the background, Dankvart Dreyer has perhaps on his own initiative depicted this beautiful, remote medieval manor. The depiction of Lerkenfeldt, however, was never exhibited. According to an orally handed down information, estate manager Christian Evers at Wedellsborg is said to have bought the work from Dankvart Dreyer at an unknown time, when the painter was in financial difficulties.” (pp. 203–204).

Provenance: Estate manager at Wedellsborg councillor of justice Christian Evers (Ewertz); his son Frederik Ludvig Schrøder Ewertz, Wedellsborg; his daughter Ellen Bruun Tuxen, Vemmetofte tenant residence; her descendants until today.

The National Gallery of Denmark has a drawn study for the painting (Inv. No. KKS7814).