A View of Lower Rydal Falls, Cumbria
Thomas Fearnley Norwegian
Not on view
Fearnley visited the Lake District with Charles West Cope in August 1837, and here sketched Lower Rydal Falls from a summer house built to allow a comfortable vantage point. Born in Norway to a merchant father of British parentage, the artist studied with the leading painting Christian Dahl in Dresden and, like his teacher, became a proponent of Romantic naturalism. As a student he sought Scandinavian sites previously considered too rough or barbaric, and remained an inveterate traveler, visiting Italy (1832–35), Switzerland, and England (1836–8). In the latter he focused on subjects in the Lake District and Yorkshire dales, using this sketch to capture the mysterious beauty of sunlight penetrating dense foliage to glisten over moving water.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
