Lot 310: Martinus Rørbye (Danish, 1805-1848)

Martinus Rørbye (Danish, 1805-1848)
A jutting rock in the rapids (Fos med fremragende Klippestykke)
dated '1830' (centre)
oil on paper laid down on canvas
10 x 14¼ in. (25.5 x 36 cm.)

Kunstforeningen, 1905, no. 27.
Kunstforeningen, 1930, no. 30.
Copenhagen, Thorvaldsens Museum, Martinus Rørbye, 18 June - 30 September 1981, cat. no. 34.

Rørbye's diary, Copenhagen, 1830, p. 115 (ill.).

The artist's estate sale, 1849, lot 12.
with M. Grosells, Copenhagen.
Anonymous sale; Kunsthallen, Copenhagen, 2 - 4 December 1998, lot 34, when acquired by the present owner (DKR 240,000 $37,656).

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
Martinus Rørbye received a classical training from Cristoffer Eckersberg, the leading classically trained artist of the Danish Golden Agen. Although many of Rørbye's paintings are quite formally composed, the principles of his teacher were often softened by a Romantic temperament. As this painting reveals, his landscapes in particular are much closer to those of his fellow Norwegian artist, Johan Christian Dahl, than to the more literal interpretations of nature rendered by Eckersberg.