Oil painting entitled 'Liensfiord Lake, Norway' by Francis Danby. British School, 1841.

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.

Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857

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.

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'.

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'.

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