Thomas Fearnley

Thomas Fearnley painted wild, dramatic landscapes: waterfalls, glaciers, rushing rivers and storm light over mountains. He moved between quick oil sketches made outdoors and larger, carefully composed studio pictures, and both show a strong Romantic feeling for untamed nature.

He was born in Halden, Norway, in 1802, studied in Christiania, Copenhagen and Stockholm, and then worked with Johan Christian Dahl in Dresden. He travelled widely in Europe, painting in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and England, and died in Munich in 1842, aged 39. The National Museum in Oslo holds the largest group of his work.

Grindelwaldbreen, his view of the Grindelwald glacier in Switzerland, is one of his best known pictures, with ice, rock and dark pines set against the sky.