Eilif Peterssen

Axel Kielland, Kristiania
C.J. Smedsrud, Moss
Robert Strand, Oslo
Sale: Sotheby's, London, 23 March 1988, lot 70
MacConnal Mason, London
Purchased by the present owner from the above in 1989

Chicago, World's Columbian Exposition, 1893
(Possibly) Venice, Biennale, 1895
Oslo, Kunstforeningen, 1925, no. 30
Stockholm, Konstakademien, 1925
London, Royal Society of British Artists Gallery, Norwegian Art, 1928
Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus, 1936, no. 62
Oslo, Kunstforeningen, 1940, no. 76
Oslo, Kunstforeningen, 1953, no. 37
Oslo, Kunstnerforbundet, Fleskum-malerne, 1965, no. 24
Høvikodden, Henie-Onstad Art Centre, Kunst i Bærum, 1978, no. 26

Erik Wettergren, Scenerier, Stockholm, 1927, pp. 118-123
Geraldine Norman, 'Louvre seeks £3.2m to buy painting', in The Independent, 24 March 1988, p. 6, illustrated
Jan Kokkin, Eilif Peterssen. Mellom stemninger og impresjoner, Oslo, 2009, no. 317, pp.174 & 372 , illustrated (as Solskinn, Kalvøya (Magda syr))

Original unlined canvas. The painting is in good condition, clean, fresh, with good impasto. There are some scattered minor restorations visible under UV light, notably a 2cm line in the back of her hair, a handful of spots in the upper right of the sky, a few to the white pigments of the lower parts of her dress, and 4 strokes in the left near the tree which appear to be addressing scratches, the longest a thin 10cm intermittent stroke (with signs on the reverse of absorption of 2 of these strokes). The painting is ready to hang. Held in an elaborate wood and plaster rococo-style frame with berry motifs.
"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."

Engrossed in her needlework, the elegant profile of Magda, Peterssen's second wife, is offset against a verdant, sun drenched landscape. Peterssen trained in Copenhagen, in Karlsruhe under Hans Gude (lots 37 & 39), and Munich, leaving in 1878 to travel widely, visiting London and Paris before moving to Italy from 1879 to 1883. His distinctive style of plein-air subject matter evolved from his association first with Peder Severin Krøyer in the artists' colony that developed in the fishing community at Skagen in Jutland, Denmark and subsequently in the summer of 1886 with his fellow Norwegian painters Christian Skredsvig, Gerhard Munthe, Kitty Kielland, Harriet Backer, and Erik Werenskiold on a farm at Fleskum in Norway where their work celebrated nature and the great outdoors. 

The present work shows Peterssen at his most Impressionist, the broad strokes of the foliage as in Monet's depiction of Camille at Bennecourt with her dress executed in a dynamic virtuoso, almost abstract, dazzle of strokes. Painted on an island off Sandvika and just a few miles from Fleskum, the work is painted in a Nordic landscape in full sun on a summer's day, unlike the pure, almost Symbolist landscapes which Peterssen, Kielland and the others had painted at Fleskum.

Impressionism was seen as a rejuvenating force, not only for those Norwegians, like Werenskiold, who had seen it first-hand in Paris in the early 1880s, but for Norwegian painting as a whole. As Andreas Aubert wrote in Dagbladet in 1895, looking forward to Monet's visit to the country, 'Claude Monet, the bold conqueror, one of the creators of a new kind of painting, for which our young art owes him a large debt of gratitiude. Claude Monet's youth has turned into a new youth for our painting, to new blood in our veins.'