Zealand Landscape. Open Country in North Zealand
Johan Thomas Lundbye
1842
Here, Lundbye have strived to express the overall qualities of the Danish countryside, and with his chosen title he seeks to emphasise the general nature of the scene. A central feature of the painting is the winding road, which may be interpreted as an expression of the artist’s existential ruminations. In the summer of 1841 Lundbye painted two studies of the slightly hilly, open landscape near Frederiksværk, showing a small forest nestling between grassy hills in the middle of the painting. The following winter he used the two studies as the basis for this painting, which is crucially different from the studies in several ways. In his striving to identify the overall quality of the Danish countryside he has let the unique characteristics of specific sites fade and become obscured - you can only just make out the distinguishing features shown in the oil studies. Individual elements have been moved around, and the lines are noticeably more pronounced.
SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen · Image: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Public domain · Text: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark (adapted), CC0