Martinus Rørbye (b. Drammen 1803, d. Copenhagen 1848)
Mountain landscape from Norway with a man enjoying the view. Unsigned. Oil on paper laid on canvas. 21×32 cm.
Exhibited: The National Gallery of Denmark, “Caspar David Friedrich and Denmark”, 1991 no. 99. Øregaard Museum & Skovgaard Museum, "Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne” (The Near and the Distant), 2014–2015 no. 12, ill. p. 106.
Martinus Rørbye was born in Drammen and spent the first 11 years of his life in Norway before the family moved to Denmark. As an adult, he returned several times to the country to visit the family and friends he had there. The first trip took place in 1830 and lasted 2 months.
Literature: Kasper Monrad, “Caspar David Friedrich and Denmark”, The National Gallery of Denmark, 1991, ill. p. 100, mentioned p. 101 and 206. Monrad writes the following about the painting: “Rørbye's paintings from the trip to Norway in 1830 are almost all indebted to Eckersberg's view of nature. That is, 'myopic' detailed studies or narrowed views. Individual paintings show that Rørbye has been familiar with Dahl's Norwegian views. But the painting of the Norwegian mountain range with a solitary figure (an artist?) standing at the foot of a pine tree sticks out in a significant way compared to the other Norwegian motifs. With the almost symmetrical structure of the image, with the strong emphasis on the pine tree and the large jump from foreground to background, the painting is very un-Danish, and it is closer to Friedrich than any other artwork that Rørbye had done up to this point. The painting cannot with certainty be identified with one of the works, which until now have been known from Rørbye's stay in Norway in 1830.” (p. 206).
At Bruun Rasmussen auction 421, 1981 no. 253, a drawing was sold that has both compositional and motivic similarities to the present one. In this drawing, which is from Holmenkollen in Norway, a group of men take a rest on their excursion in the Norwegian mountains. Here, too, a tree dominates the motif with its central position in the foreground slightly to the left of the centre. The man just behind the tree resembles the man in the present drawing in his clothing, and it could thus be the same person.
Provenance: Kunsthallen auction 369, 1988 no. 134. Bruun Rasmussen auction 737, 2004 no. 2002, ill. p. 12.
Please note: The item is subject to the Anti-Money Laundering Act. In the event of a hammer price of DKK 50,000 or more, including buyer’s premium, the buyer must submit a copy of a valid photo ID and proof of address in order to collect the item.
Paintings, drawings and icons, 14 June 2023