Lot 216
  • 216

Christian Krohg

Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 GBP
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Description

  • Christian Krohg
  • Leif Eriksson Oppdager Amerika (Leif Eriksson Discovers America)
  • signed C. Krohg lower right
  • oil on canvas
  • 116.8 by 174.6cm., 46 by 68¾in.

Provenance

Jonas Hagen, London
Christiania Rowing Club (a gift from the above in 1921 following the club's success at the Henley Royal Regatta between 29 June - 2 July that year)
Sale: Grev Wedels Plass Auksjoner, Oslo, 27 April 1998, lot 66
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited

Oslo, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Christian Krohg: Sjøbilder, 1996, no. 10

Condition

The canvas has been relined. Apart from a few very small and very minor spots of retouching, and two minor paint losses (as visible in the lower right corner of the catalogue illustration), this work is in very good condition. Held in a dark wooden frame carved with an inscription in Norwegian.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Painted in 1892, this dramatic rendition of Leif Eriksson's first sighting of America is one of two large scale oil sketches for Krohg's winning entry of a competition organised by the Leif Eriksson Memorial Association to celebrate the Norwegian's discovery of the New World at the end of the tenth century. Others who submitted work for the competition included Otto Sinding, Theodor Kittelsen, Hans Heyerdahl, and Nils Bergslien.

As the competition winner, Krohg was charged with the task of painting the subject on an even larger scale to be shown at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. His completed version of  Eriksson - the largest painting Krohg ever painted - now hangs in the Sjøfartsmuseet (The Maritime Museum), Oslo (fig. 1). Krohg based the present oil sketch and the finished work on his earlier composition På Lo Baug (now lost),  to which he added four Vikings running from the bottom of the boat. The model for Eriksson was Emil Frøen, and sketches related to the compostion exist of Frøen dressed both as Eriksson and a Viking.   

Renewed interest in Eriksson's achievement was stimulated by the Chicago fair honouring the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492. In the 1870s and 1880s there was a growing concensus that Eriksson had reached America some five hundred years ahead of Columbus. This idea was popularized in 1874 by the publication of America Not Discovered by Columbus by Rasmus B Anderson, and given further impetus by the discovery of the Gokstad in 1880, to this day the largest and most intact Viking vessel in the Viking Ship Museum near Oslo. 

To press the point, the exhibition of Krohg's finished work in Chicago coincided with a journey taken by the Viking, a replica of the Gokstad, that was rowed across the Atlantic, crewed by nintey-two Norwegian oarsmen.

Eriksson's place in American history was officially recognised in 1925 at the Norse-American Centennial when President Calvin Coolidge endorsed Eriksson as the discoverer of America. October 9, the date in 1825 that the Restaurationen arrived in New York in 1825 with its first organised party of Norwegian immigrants, subsequently became Leif Eriksson Day, and in 1964 the United States Congress authorised 9 October to be an annual day of observance honouring the explorer.

Eriksson was the second of three sons of Erik the Red, who established a settlement in Greenland after he was exiled from Iceland. It is believed that Eriksson visited Norway in around 1000 where he was converted to Christianity by King Olaf I, who sent him back to Greenland to convert the settlers there. In one story recounted in one of the several different sagas in which his life is recorded, Eriksson sailed off-course on his voyage to Greenland and arrived in a place he called Vinland, because of the abundant grape vines he found there. The precise identity of Vinland remains uncertain, with various locations on the North American coast identified. In 1963, archaeologists found ruins of a Viking-type settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, in northern Newfoundland, which correspond to Eriksson's description of Vinland.

FIG. 1, Christian Krogh, Leif Eriksson Oppdager Amerika, Sjøfartsmuseet, Oslo