Oil painting, 'Lake of the Engstlen Alp', Friedrich Zimmermann

A view of the Engstlenalp (Engstlen pasture), Canton of Berne, Switzerland. In the foreground, cattle water in the Engstlensee, and in the background the mountains are shrouded in clouds.

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend

Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, listed in the 1868 post-mortem register of the contents of his villa in Lausanne (V&A R/F MA/1/T1181) as 'Oil on canvas. Lake of the Engstlen alp, Canton Berne, Switzerland. By Frederick Zimmermann. German. Present century'; bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868.

Ref : Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix.

'Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was born into a wealthy family, only son of Henry Hare Townsend of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1821). Succeeded to the family estates 1827, when he added 'h' to the Townsend name. He had taken holy orders, but while he always referred to himself as 'Rev.' on the title pages of his books, he never practised his vocation... . Very much a dilettante in the eighteenth-century sense, he moved in the highest social and literary circles; a great friend of Charles Dickens (he was the dedicatee of Great Expectations) with whom he shared a fascination of mesmerism... Bulwer Lytton described his life's 'Beau-deal of happiness' as 'elegant rest, travel, lots of money - and he is always ill and melancholy'. Of the many watercolours and British and continental oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A, the majority are landscapes. He is the first identifiable British collector of early photographs apart from the Prince Consort, particularly landscape photography, and also collected gems and geological specimens.'

Historical significance: The Engstlenalp is part of the municipality of Innertkirchen in the Oberhasli district, Canton of Berne, Switzerland. The Engstlensee is a natural lake at an altitude of 1850 metres near the Joch pass.

Friedrich Zimmermann (1823-84) was born at Diessenhofen (Thurgau). A pupil of Alexandre Calame (1810-64) in 1852, he lived mostly in Geneva and died in Ormont-dessus. Three Swiss landscapes by him are in the Kunstmuseum Bernee.

1581-1869