JOHAN CHRISTIAN CLAUSEN DAHL | WINTERLANDSHAFT MIT RABEN (B 823), 1836

Christie's London, 29th November 1991, lot 77

Marie Lødrup Bang, Johan Christian Dahl, Life and Works, Oslo, 1987, vol. II, p. 258, catalogued, vol. III, plate 349, illustrated. no. 823

The most celebrated Norwegian artist of the 19^th century, Dahl, together with Caspar David Friedrich, became one of the key Romantic landscape painters. Despite being fourteen years younger than Friedrich, the two painters became close friends when Dahl moved to Dresden in 1818 and the artists shared lodgings and became godfathers to each other’s children. Although both painters liked to base their landscapes on direct studies of nature itself, Dahl differed from Friedrich in favouring a more spontaneous and painterly style. He liked to paint directly onto the canvas which seems to be the case in this freely painted study of pine trees in the snow. The combination of snow and ravens, both symbols of death, suggest that the artist wished to give this work an allegorical dimension. The subject matter also reflects Dahl’s affection for his native Norway, which remained strong throughout his life and in his later years, despite still living and teaching in Dresden, between 1834-50 Dahl returned regularly to his homeland to paint.