Winter landscape with figures signed 'FM Kruseman fc' (lower left) oil on panel 65 x 87cm (25 9/16 x 34 1/4in).
Sold for
£97,250
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Footnotes
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Canada
Frederik Marinus Kruseman received his first painting lessons from Jan Reekers and Nicolaas Johannes Roosenboom. The latter trained several talented students, including Cornelis Lieste and Johannes Petrus van Velzen, in his Haarlem studio, occasionally visited by his father-in-law Andreas Schelfhout. Roosenboom taught Kruseman the rudiments of landscape painting and encouraged his interest in winter subjects. Kruseman exhibited his first work at the Living Masters exhibition in The Hague in 1833.
In 1837 Kruseman travelled to Cleves in Germany, where he received instructions from Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, one of the founding fathers of Dutch romantic landscape painting, who was to have a lasting influence on Kruseman's subject matter and style.
The present lot can be dated between 1847 and 1850 and is an excellent example of the refined, full-fledged style which would earn Kruseman his greatest fame. The delicately painted trees with their coral-shaped twigs are a recurrent and highly recognisable element in Kruseman's paintings.
From 1841 onwards Kruseman spent most of his time in Brussels. Many Dutch artists worked in the Belgian capital, which was a centre of artistic activity in the nineteenth century.
We are grateful to Mr. J. M. M. de Meere for confirming the attribution to Frederik Marinus Kruseman on the basis of photographs. This work will be included in the archive of Mr J. M. M. de Meere under no. GWO/47/03.