Liensfiord Lake, Norway thumbnail 1

Liensfiord Lake, Norway

Oil Painting
1841 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Danby visited Norway in 1825 and wrote to a friend: 'God knows the country is wild enough'. The full title of this picture was: 'Liensfiord Lake, in Norway; a sudden storm, called a flanger, passing off - an effect which in their lonely lakes occurs nearly every day in autumn'.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Liensfiord Lake, Norway (assigned by artist)
  • Leinesfjord, Norway (generic title)
Materials and techniques
oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil painting entitled 'Liensfiord Lake, Norway' by Francis Danby. British School, 1841.
Physical description
The sombre colouring and leaden atmosphere is the background for details such as the deformed and vestigial tree clinging to the cliff face and the skeleton of a seal on the shore which a storm has presumably tossed from the rocks.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 82.5cm
  • Estimate width: 116.7cm
  • Framed height: 104.7cm
  • Framed width: 149.2cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'F. DANBY' (Signed diagonally, lower left)
Credit line
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Object history
The full title of the picture, as given in the Royal Academy exhibition catalogue was `Liensfiord Lake, in Norway; a sudden storm, called a flanger, passing off - an effect which in their lonely lakes occurs nearly every day in autumn.' This implied violence of nature, and the mood of desolation, are typical components of Romantic thought, as is the promise of imminent release in the form of the brighter sky approaching behind the storm clouds.

Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857.
Historical context
Danby was in Norway in 1825 and perhaps also in 1840. To the British, that country would have seemed one of the most remote in Europe, and Danby emphasises the grimmest aspects of the unfamiliar landscape before him. He had written home to a friend: 'there are very beautiful scenes and extremely picturesque...God knows the country is wild enough'.
Subjects depicted
Places depicted
Summary
Danby visited Norway in 1825 and wrote to a friend: 'God knows the country is wild enough'. The full title of this picture was: 'Liensfiord Lake, in Norway; a sudden storm, called a flanger, passing off - an effect which in their lonely lakes occurs nearly every day in autumn'.
Bibliographic references
  • Parkinson, R., Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, pp. 61-62
  • Evans, Mark et al. Vikutoria & Arubāto Bijutsukan-zō : eikoku romanshugi kaigaten = The Romantic tradition in British painting, 1800-1950 : masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Japan : Brain Trust, 2002
Collection
Accession number
FA.67[O]

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
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