A View of Lower Rydal Falls, Cumbria
Fearnley visited the Lake District with Charles West Cope in August 1837, and here sketched Lower Rydal Falls from a summer house built to allow a comfortable vantage point. Born in Norway to a merchant father of British parentage, the artist studied with the leading painting Christian Dahl in Dresden and, like his teacher, became a proponent of Romantic naturalism. As a student he sought Scandinavian sites previously considered too rough or barbaric, and remained an inveterate traveler, visiting Italy (1832–35), Switzerland, and England (1836–8). In the latter he focused on subjects in the Lake District and Yorkshire dales, using this sketch to capture the mysterious beauty of sunlight penetrating dense foliage to glisten over moving water.
Artwork Details
- Title: A View of Lower Rydal Falls, Cumbria
- Artist: Thomas Fearnley (Norwegian, Frederikshald 1802–1842 Munich)
- Date: 1837
- Medium: Watercolor, pen and ink, gray and white heightening, on beige paper
- Dimensions: sheet: 20 9/16 x 14 5/8 in. (52.3 x 37.1 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of Roberta J. M. Olson and Alexander B. V. Johnson, 2011
- Object Number: 2011.564.2
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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