This sprightly early 20th-century oil painting by Danish artist Peder Knudsen (1868-1944) depicts a stream cutting through a meadow, with a distant glimpse of the sea.
Into the first throws of summer, the flora lively and established - the stream shallow, narrow and crisp. Knudsen loved it here, perhaps in Bornholm, where he returned to paint often during the 1920s. He's captured the view with careful attention to each element. The stream is the star, running through the centre of the composition, and tapering off. Lighter toward the upper edge, more exposed to the sun filtering through the overhead clouds. In the foreground, a line of arranged stones suggests a short improvised walkway.
Either side of the stream, we see prominent white and pale yellow meadowsweet and imagine them tremulous in a slight breeze, swaying tall among the grasses. These are common in Denmark. There's also, perhaps, cow parsley in places.
Behind them, sprawling out across the meadow, mixed grasses, not yet seed-heavy. While rising from the edges of the stream, rushes are captured adroitly with deft curved marks, tipped with dashes of pale green.
On the right, further on, either a spruce or fir stands proudly - providing a visual guide out toward the distant blue strip of the Baltic - described in a subtle horizontal mark.
Knudson was a painter in tune with nature, enjoying working among it. He delivered painterly works underpinned by both accuracy and feeling. Here, he's described a moment alongside the sound of a babbling stream in a meadow abundant with delicate flora and lit by gentle radiance.
He exhibited regularly at the September Exhibition in Denmark, and he's represented in numerous public collections.
Signed in the lower right and held in a later moulded frame with a gently stepped profile, shallow outer moulding and a slightly raised inner lip.
Learn more about Peder Knudsen in our directory.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 43” x 32½” / 110cm x 83cm
Year of creation: c. 1925
Provenance: Private collection, Denmark.
Condition: Cleaned. Later stretcher. One tidy patched repair. Slightly undulant. Frame in excellent condition.
Artist’s auction maximum: £5,482 for ‘Blomstrende Frugttraeer Ved En Höjtliggende Sö’, Oil on canvas, Copenhagen, 6 December 2005.
Our reference: BRV1250
