Lot 1675 Dα

This small but dramatic oil sketch depicting a ship in a storm was painted by the Norwegian artist Johann Christian Dahl on the back of an invitation to the Flora in Dresden (“Einladung / zur / Monats-Versammlung / der / FLORA / für / Herrn Professor Dahl / Local: im Zwinger Salon. Zeit: Donnerstag d. 6. Juni 39 / präcise 5 Uhr”). Dahl was a member of the “Gesellschaft für Botanik und Gartenbau in Dresden” (Dresden Society of Botany and Landscape Gardening) and often painted small-scale works on their invitations.<BR>Almost the entire lower half of this painting is occupied by crashing waves, upon which a ship perilously attempts to navigate a storm. A drawn copy of this work which Dahl completed for his “Liber Veritatis” is today housed in the Billedgalleri in Bergen. It bears an inscription on the lower margin that reads “Seesturm An Frau v. d. Decken / Dahl f. 1843. 5Z.l-3 Z.h.“ (cf. Bang, ibed.). Although the drawing has always been known to exist, the painted version now appears again after having been lost for many years. Marie Lodrup Bang, author of Dahl's catalogue raisonné, was still unaware of the painting's whereabouts in 1987.<BR>We would like to thank Marie Lodrup Bang for confirming this painting to be identical to no. 989 in her catalogue raisonné upon examination of colour photographs.