The painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Fritz Petzholdt's works by MA Lise-Lott Barlas.

Provenance: The collection Consul General Johan Hansen no. 1473 (1931), his auctions, part VI, Winkel & Magnussen 131, 1933 no. 150. Bruun Rasmussen auction 474, 1985 no. 378. Bruun Rasmussen auction 497, 1987 no. 404.

Petzholdt began in 1825 as a private pupil with C. W. Eckersberg (1783–1853).

The old lime kiln was placed just north of Copenhagen and was a picturesque motif for many of the Danish Golden Age painters – here was beautiful nature close to the sea and distinctive brick buildings for burning lime. It therefore became a favorite excursion destination for many of the students at the art academy, who precisely here in the early 1820s on their own initiative, inspired by the artistic circles around Europe, began to go on joint excursions to Copenhagen and the surrounding area to paint and draw under the open sky directly after nature.

Trees became a main motif for Petzholdt. As Lise-Lott Barlas writes in another catalogue text for one of Petzholdt's works previously sold at auction at Bruun Rasmussen, where she also briefly mentions the present work:

“As a landscape painter, Petzholdt managed to draw and paint many trees of different species depending on where he was. The trees were basically his main motif. For example, as a 20-year-old he painted one of his first landscape paintings of some willow trees at Kalkbrænderiet (the lime kiln) north of Copenhagen, later oak trees in Klampenborg, and in 1827 a group of beech trees from Charlottenlund.”

Bruun Rasmussen thanks MA Lise-Lott Barlas for assisting with the cataloguing of the present painting.