Johann Bernhard Klombeck
Winter Scene in Reichswald
Oil on canvas (relined). 99.5 x 119.5 cm.
Signed and dated lower centre: J. B. Klombeck ft 1858 (partially overpainted).
Johann Bernhard Klombeck was one of the leading representatives of the Cleves school of Romanticism, which was heavily inspired by the works of Barend Cornelis Koekkoek. Koekkoek was active in Cleves as of 1834 and founded an art academy there in 1841. One of his first pupils was the Cleves born artist Johann Bernhard Klombeck, who later took over the academy.
In this large-format landscape work, Klombeck convincingly evokes the atmosphere of a crisp winter's day. The subdued lighting, finely shaded snow, frozen stream and the leafless, snow-dusted branches of the trees combine to form a romantic winter landscape enlived by various figures, such as peasants collecting firewood.
Like his teacher Koekkoek, Klombeck's motifs were mainly derived from his homeland in the lower Rhine Region. The Reichswald forest, located between Goch, Cleves and Kranenburg, is the largest wooded area in this region.
Provenance
Galerie Paffrath, Düsseldorf. – Private collection, Netherlands.
Literature
Exhib. cat.: „Johann Bernhard Klombeck 1815-1893. Ein Landschaftsmaler der Klever Romantik“, Kleve, Städtisches Museum Haus Koekkoek 10.10.-5.12.1993, Kleve 1993, p. 80, no. 58/93 (with a b/w illus.).