640. THOMAS FEARNLEY (NORWAY 1802-1842). View of Stockholm, from Kungsholmen.

Oil on relined canvas, 67 x 107 cm, including frame 88 x 128 cm. Signed and dated Th Fearnley 1827 lower right.

With label on the stretcher numbered: "N 11".

Compare with the larger version in the collection of Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, inv. no. NG.M.03667, painted in 1824, and the pencil drawing inv. no. NG.K&H.A.0388-007.

PROVENANCE
Maximilian-Eugène-Auguste-Joseph-Napoléon de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg (1817‑1852), Munich and St. Petersburg.
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, Duchess of Leuchtenberg (1819‑1876), St. Petersburg and Florence.
Nicholas de Beauharnais, 4th Duke of Leuchtenberg (1843-1891), St. Petersburg.
Nicholas de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1868-1928), St. Petersburg.
A.-B. Nordiska Kompaniet, Stockholm, 1917.
Swedish construction engineer Paul Toll (1882-1946), co-founder of the construction company Kreuger & Toll.
Thence by descent to the present owner.

EXHIBITED
(Possibly) Kungl. Akademiens för de fria konsterna, Stockholm, 1829.
A.-B. Nordiska Kompaniet, Stockholm, "Leuchtenbergska Tavelsamlingen", 1917, cat. no. 83.
(Possibly) Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, "Stockholm i bild", maj-juni 1919, cat. no. 276.

LITERATURE
Johann David Passavant, Galerie Leuchtenberg: gemälde sammlung Seiner Kaiserl. Hoheit des herzogs von Leuchtenberg in München. In umrissen gestochen von inspector J.N. Muxel, 1851, p. 41, no. 224, with engraved plate.
Johann David Passavant, A collection of pictures forming the celebrated gallery of His Imperial Highness the Duke of Leuchtenberg, at Munich, 1852, p. 4, no. 224, with engraved plate.
A.-B. Nordiska Kompaniet, Stockholm, Leuchtenbergska Tavelsamlingen, 1917, p. 63.
Gustaf Upmark & Arthur Sjögren, Stockholmsbilder från fem århundraden 1523-1923, 1923, p. 63, illustrated p. 258.
Albin Roosval (ed.), Svenska hem i ord och bild, XIII, 1925, p. 224, illustrated p. 224 and 227.
Sigurd Willoch, Malaren Thomas Fearnley, 1932, p. 54 and p. 263.
(Possibly) Emil Hultmark, Kungl. Akademiens för de fria konsterna utställningar 1794-1887, 1935, p. 91.
Christian Faerber (red.), Konst i svenska hem I: målningar och skulpturer från 1800 till våra dagar, 1942, in the collection of Engineer Paul Toll, Stockholm, no. 244, illustrated p. 178.

In 1824, a vast panoramic view over Stockholm was commissioned by the king Karl XIV Johan. The result was an astonishing glimpse of the capital seen from Klaraviksstranden in Kungsholmen with the Old Town in the center. As the main sight, the Royal Palace is captured in the sunlight, and the entire town with its buildings and church towers as a silhouette. Over the bridge, Kungsholmsbron, a carriage with the king and his entourage is seen. On the left is a pier with two ships, “Rospiggar”, and a couple of people. The building on the right is the gristmill Eldkvarn.

In September 1824 Norwegian painter Thomas Fearnley wrote a letter to his friend Juliane Marie, the widow of the Danish painter Nicolai Abildgaard, describing how he had been commissioned paintings by both the crown prince Oscar and by His Majesty The King, and one of these was the “View of Stockholm, from Kungsholmen”. Further he explained that the king wanted it to be of important size and wished the Royal Palace to be “1 ½ aln” (approximately 90 cm), something Fearnley first objected to, but then he agreed to make the palace and the painting as large as possible, complaining to Juliane Marie how this would be “et reent Hercules Arbeide” - like the Labours of Hercules. Eventually the painting, finished by Fearnley in about three months, did not exactly match the dimensions demanded by the king, yet still impressive in both size and precision. Originally it was with the prime minister Frederik Due in Norway, and today in the collection of Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo.

The exquisite painting included in this sale is a smaller replica of the painting “View of Stockholm, from Kungsholmen”. This painting dated 1827, was in the prominent Leuchtenberg collection, and later in the collection of Engineer Paul Toll, Stockholm, founder of construction company Kreuger & Toll.

Crown prince Oscar married Josephine of Leuchtenberg, daughter of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, Eugène de Beauharnais. Possibly this minor replica of the Stockholm panorama, was meant as a “postcard” to the family from the princess’s new home town. It is recorded in Johann David Passavant’s extensive compilation of the Leuchtenberg collection in Munich (1851 and 1852), illustrated with an etching. Josephine’s brother, Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, married the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, and the vast art collection was transferred to St. Petersburg. After her it was inherited by the son Nicholas de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, and then again by his son Nicholas de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg. Finally the painting returned to Stockholm as Nordiska kompaniet presented this exceptional collection to potential buyers at the exhibition in 1917. The magnificent collection included a wide range of prominent painters, and as the collection was dispersed in 1917, paintings with this provenance are now to be found in museums such as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Thomas Fearnley life as an artist began in 1820 when he partook in an exhibition at Tegneskolen in Christiania (Oslo), and his career ended in 1842, when he passed away at the age of 39 in Munich. During his lifetime he made extensive travels, to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Dresden, Munich, Italy, Switzerland and England, establishing himself as one of the most prominent landscape painters of his era.

Having enrolled at the Norwegian Military Academy, receiving instruction in drawing, the aspiring young artist Fearnley left for studies in Copenhagen. Fearnley spent most of the time during the years 1823-27 in Stockholm, studying under Carl Johan Fahlcrantz at Konstademien, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he in 1827 became agrée. During this period he received orders from the royal family and other members of the court. One of the two versions of the “View of Stockholm, from Kungsholmen” was exhibited at Kungliga Akademien in 1829.

As one of Norway’s most renowned romantic painters, Thomas Fearnley, proved himself early in his career to have an exceptional talent for landscape painting, combining meticulous attention to detail with a poetic sense of atmosphere and mood. In a vibrant interplay of light and shadow and the delicate rendering of the city’s features, Fearnley’s mastery in conveying both realism and a sense of beauty is demonstrated in “View of Stockholm, from Kungsholmen”. A key figure within the Romantic movement in Scandinavia, Fearnley appreciated nature's grandeur, and here a more scarce cityscape is making its reappearance in this sale. The significant painting, with a prominent provenance, exemplifies Fearnley’s technical prowess and his contribution to the Romantic landscape tradition, equally it displays the scenic beauty of Stockholm during this period.