Frederik Marinus Kruseman Dutch, 1816-1882

H. van Heteren and J. de Meere, Frederik Marinus Kruseman 1816-1882, Painter of pleasing landscapes, Schiedam 1998, cat.no. 183, illustrated on p. 194 and depicted in colour on the cover of the book

Frederik Marinus Kruseman grew up in Haarlem, where he received his first painting lessons from Jan Reekers (1790-1858) and Nicolaas Johannes Roosenboom (1805-1880). The latter trained several talented students (Cornelis Lieste, Johannes Petrus van Velzen) in his Haarlem studio, occasionally visited by his father-in-law Andreas Schelfhout. Roosenboom taught Kruseman the rudiments of landscape painting and almost certainly raised his interest in winter scenes. Encouraged by Roosenboom, he exhibited his first work at the Living Masters in The Hague (1833) at the age of 17.

In 1837, Kruseman travelled to Cleves, where he received instructions from Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, one of the founding fathers of Dutch romantic landscape painting. Koekkoek was to have a lasting influence on both his subject matter and style. From him, Kruseman adopted his superb technique and secure handling of the paint. He closely followed Koekoek's instructions for depicting ice in a convincing way: 'If the ice is well prepared, i.e., that the background is thoroughly dry, then glaze the reflection on top and do the snow, very lightly, with carmine white and ultramarine. The cracks in the ice are done with very fine brushes, as are the blocks of ice that lie loose on top. To indicate skate tracks in the snow, first apply white and scratch with the handle of the brush in the still-wet paint."

From 1841 onwards, Kruseman spent most of his time in Brussels. Many Dutch artists worked in the Belgian capital, which was the centre of artistic creativity in the nineteenth century. During his second stay in Brussels (1856-1882), Kruseman painted his most important pictures: highly finished, fairy-like Arcadian winter landscapes, populated with many figures. The delicately painted trees with their coral shaped branches are a recurrent and highly recognisable element in Kruseman's paintings. The present lot, dating from 1872 is an excellent example of the refined, full-fledged style which would earn Kruseman his greatest fame. The fact that it was used to grace the cover of the catalogue raisonne only stresses the importance of this work.