Ferdinand Hernlund - By a Forest Lake in Småland

Ferdinand Hernlund (1837–1902) Sweden

By a Forest Lake in Småland

signed lower right “Ferd. Hernlund”
oil on canvas
unframed 45 × 78 cm (17.7 × 30.7 in)
framed 60 × 93 cm (23.6 × 36.6 in)
presented in a newly gilded frame

Exhibited:
Memorial Exhibition, Eksjö, 1966.
Konstsalongen, Nässjö.

Condition report:
The painting is in fine overall condition and has recently been conserved. Minor retouching is present, including small areas to the tree trunks. The colours remain clear and well preserved. A newly gilded frame is included.

Essay:
In By a Forest Lake in Småland, Ferdinand Hernlund presents the Småland landscape at the close of day, when the forms of trees, rocks and shoreline begin to dissolve into the gathering dusk. A wooded bank occupies the left side of the composition, its dark trunks and foliage forming a dense screen against the luminous sky. Beyond, the lake opens towards a distant horizon where an intense band of coral red and orange light is reflected across the still water.

Carl Ferdinand Hernlund was born in Eksjö in 1837 and developed an early interest in drawing. By 1862 he was working as a drawing teacher in his native town, and the following year he became a pupil of the landscape painter Per Daniel Holm. His studies subsequently took him to Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe, followed by further periods abroad.

Hernlund became particularly associated with landscapes from Småland and Östergötland. Contemporary and later biographical accounts describe his preference for simple, undramatic motifs and for landscapes characterized by summer light, greenery and a restrained sense of idyll. His journey to France in 1883 also brought him into contact with the landscape traditions of Fontainebleau and Barbizon, where direct study of nature and modest rural subjects had become central artistic concerns. In 1887 he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts.

The shoreline itself is treated with considerable freedom. Stones and rocks are indicated with broken strokes of grey, brown and muted violet, leading the eye towards the water. Against these darker tones, the brilliant reflections of the sunset acquire particular intensity. The warm red and orange light does not remain confined to the horizon but appears again in vertical and horizontal passages across the surface of the lake.

This sensitivity to changing light places the work within the development of Hernlund’s mature landscape painting. His earlier training was rooted in the composed landscape tradition associated with Düsseldorf and with Per Daniel Holm, but his later work reveals an increasing interest in more immediate effects of atmosphere. The influence of French landscape painting can be sensed in the simplicity of the subject and in the emphasis placed upon light rather than narrative.

The painting was included in the Hernlund memorial exhibition held in Eksjö in 1966.