The Alps with the Zugspitze seen from the Murnau Marshes
signed, dated and inscribed lower right: 'TF Murnau 7 July 1831'
oil on paper laid down on board
7 ¼ x 14 ¼ in. (185 x 362 mm)
Provenance
Hofjägermeister Thomas Fearnley (only son of the artist) 1841-1927; Shipowner Thomas Fearnley (grandson of the artist), 1880 –1961; By family descent, until 2006
Exhibited
Oslo, Kunstnerforbundet, 1966, no. 4
Fearnley arrived in Munich in October 1830 and stayed for two years, joining the circle of a group of young artists from Northern Germany and Denmark. During the summer months of 1831 they set out on a long excursion into the Bavarian Alps travelling and sketching around Lake Starnberg, Murnau (7th July), Patenkirchen (4th August), Ramsau and Königsee (24th Sept). From the many drawings and oil sketches of his summer tour Fearnley made a number of impressive studio paintings like the view of ‘Königsee’ now in the National Gallery, Oslo. But it was in his small private studies, such as this, that he found a new naturalism and fluency. He has brilliantly conveyed the scenic grandeur of the surrounding mountains, placing the figure of a sketching artist in the foreground, perhaps a self-portrait, to strengthen the sense of the monumentality of the landscape.
