In 1836, Lundbye’s parents moved to Frederiksvaerk, which lies between Denmark’s largest lake, Aressø, and the sea. The young artist stayed behind in Copenhagen, but on family visits he embraced this new setting, eager to capture the Danish character of the countryside, its light, and its way of life. Paintings in this vein soon earned Lundbye a reputation as a promising landscapist.
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Title:An Evening beside Lake Arresø
Artist:Johan Thomas Lundbye (Danish, Kalundborg 1818–1848 Bedsted)
Date:ca. 1837
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:9 x 11 3/4 in. (22.9 x 29.8 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Eugene V. Thaw, 2007
Accession Number:2007.164.6
[Johs. Henriques]; unidentified owner; Generalkonsul Johan Hansen (by 1922–31; his sale, 1931, no. 1125); Hans Tobiesen (until d. 1953; his sale, Winkel & Magnussen, Copenhagen, 1st part, 1953, no. 631); sale, Kunsthallen, Copenhagen, May 23, 1996, no. 25, sold for 210,000 Danish kroner ($35,235); [Artemis Fine Arts, Ltd., London, by 1997–at least 1999]; Eugene Victor Thaw, Santa Fe (by 2002–7)
Stockholm. Royal Academy of Fine Arts. "Utställning av dansk konst från 1800–talets förra hälft," 1922, no. 144 (as "Motiv från Arresö," lent by Generalkonsul Johan Hansen).
Copenhagen. Kunstforeningen. "Malerier af Johan Thomas Lundbye (1818–1848)," November–December 1931, no. 21.
New York. Artemis Fine Arts, Inc. "Selected 19th Century Paintings & Works on Paper," October 20–November 28, 1997, no. 7 (as "An Evening beside Lake Arresø").
New York. Artemis Fine Arts, Inc. "Danish Paintings of the Golden Age," April 21–May 28, 1999, no. 28 (as "Evening beside Lake Arresø").
New York. Pierpont Morgan Library. "The Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994," September 27, 2002–January 19, 2003, no. 107.
Karl Madsen. Malerier af Johan Thomas Lundbye. Copenhagen, 1931, pp. 8–9, 73, fig. 4, locates it in the collection of Generalkonsul Johan Hansen; erroneously lists it as KM 38 (the version in the Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen).
Henrik Bramsen. Landskabsmaleriet i Danmark, 1750–1875. Copenhagen, 1935, p. 77, refers to one of the versions of this composition.
Karl Madsen. Johan Thomas Lundbye: 1818–1848. Ed. Viggo Madsen and Risse See. 2nd rev. ed. Copenhagen, 1949, pp. 78, 327, 399–400, no. 38a, ill., dates it "1837?".
Selected 19th Century Paintings & Works on Paper. Exh. cat., Artemis Fine Arts, Inc. New York, 1997, unpaginated, no. 7, ill. (color), dates it about 1837; cites the influence of Købke; translates inscription on a related drawing, previously cited in Ref. Madsen 1949.
Suzanne Ludvigsen. Danish Paintings of the Golden Age. Exh. cat., Artemis Fine Arts, Inc. New York, 1999, unpaginated, no. 28, ill. (color), compares it to the Copenhagen version, noting that in our picture the dog has been emphasized and the huntsman appears more thoughtful; calls both versions forerunners of Lundbye's "A Landscape beside Lake Arresø, with a View of the Flying Sand Hills at Tisvilde" (Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen).
John Russell. "Art Review; Golden Days for Painting in Denmark." New York Times (May 14, 1999), p. E38.
Jennifer Tonkovich inThe Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994. Exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, 2002, pp. 230–31, no. 107, ill. (color), notes that Lundbye's family moved to Frederiksvaerk, near Lake Arresø, in 1836, and that this picture was probably painted during one of his visits there in 1837; suggests that the hunter may be one of the artist's six brothers; mentions the influence of Caspar David Friedrich and Johan Christian Clausen Dahl.
Esther Bell. "Catalogue Raisonné of the Thaw Collection." Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection. Ed. Jennifer Tonkovich. New York, 2011, p. 134, no. 97, ill. (color), calls it "An Evening Beside Lake Arresø" and dates it about 1837.
There is another version of this composition in the Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen.
Johan Thomas Lundbye (Danish, Kalundborg 1818–1848 Bedsted)
1838
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