The bicentenary of Hans Gude: 1 Painting Norway
Tomorrow is the bicentenary of the birth of one of Norway’s greatest landscape artists, Hans Gude. In this and tomorrow’s article I celebrate his life and work with a selection of his paintings.
Gude was born on 13 March 1825 and was initially educated in Christiania (now Oslo, Norway), and in 1842 started his studies at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, Germany. He there joined a recently-formed landscape class taught by Professor Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. Gude rejected conventional teaching that landscape paintings should be composed according to classical or aesthetic principles, preferring instead to paint thoroughly realistically, and true to nature. He also met Karl Friedrich Lessing (1808-1880), one of the German Romantic artists who had in turn been influenced by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840).
On completion of his studies, probably by about 1846, Gude returned to Norway.
Hans Gude (1825–1903), Landscape Study from Vågå (1846), oil on canvas mounted on fibreboard, 28.5 x 42.5 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons.
Landscape Study from Vågå (1846) is a fine example of one of his early oil studies, and was probably completed in front of the motif, in Norway’s mountainous Oppland county north of the Jotunheimen Mountains. Although its background is loose and vague, foreground detail is meticulous for a work that appears to have been painted en plein air.
His depiction of lichens, mosses, fungi and plants is comparable to that of the best Pre-Raphaelites, although at this time the only manifesto advocating such an approach was the first volume of John Ruskin’s Modern Painters, published in 1843. I think it most unlikely that Gude would have read or been influenced by Ruskin at that time.
Hans Gude (1825–1903), Vinterettermiddag (Winter Afternoon) (1847), oil on canvas, 50.5 × 36 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.
Vinterettermiddag (Winter Afternoon) (1847) is a studio painting that wouldn’t look out of place on a greetings card, and a marked contrast.
Hans Gude (1825–1903), Tessefossen i Vågå i middagsbelysning (Tessefossen in Vågå at midday) (1848), oil on canvas, 119 x 109 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.
Tessefossen i Vågå i middagsbelysning (Tessefossen in Vågå at midday) (1848) is a relatively large studio painting that might seem more typical of an American landscape painter of the day.
Early in his career, Gude struggled to paint realistic figures, and in several works he enlisted the help of fellow countryman Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) to paint those in for him. Tidemand had trained in Düsseldorf immediately before Gude, between 1837-41, and the two met in Hardanger in Norway in 1843.
Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) & Hans Gude (1825–1903), Brudeferden i Hardanger (Bridal journey in Hardanger) (1848), oil on canvas, 93 × 130 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons.
Among the results of this collaboration are some of their most spectacular works, such as Brudeferden i Hardanger (Bridal journey in Hardanger) (1848). Gude’s highly detailed and realistic landscape is set in the far south-west of Norway, in the region to the east of Bergen, where one of the world’s largest and most spectacular fjords carves its way from glacier to the sea.
Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) & Hans Gude (1825–1903), Brudeferden i Hardanger (Bridal journey in Hardanger) (detail) (1848), oil on canvas, 93 × 130 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons.
Not a particularly large canvas, it is as meticulously detailed as might have been expected from a Pre-Raphaelite, although its colours aren’t as brash. Gude became particularly interested in reflections on water later in his career.
Hans Gude (1825–1903), By the Mill Pond (1850), oil on paper mounted on cardboard, 34 x 47 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons.
Gude’s By the Mill Pond (1850) seems to have been another plein air study, but is so detailed that it would be hard to class it as a sketch. When looked at more carefully, though, many of its apparently precise passages turn out to consist of gestural marks, as in the lichens on the boulders in the foreground, and the small waterfall at the back. It’s also interesting in containing a figure, perhaps that of Betsy Anker whom Gude married in the summer of that year.
Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) & Hans Gude (1825–1903), Lystring på Krøderen (Fishing with a Harpoon) (1851), oil on canvas, 115 × 159 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons.
This later collaboration with Tidemand, Lystring på Krøderen (Fishing with a Harpoon) (1851), is a wonderful nocturne showing night fishing in sheltered waters, and another masterpiece of detailed realism.
Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) and Hans Gude (1825–1903), Lystring på Krøderen (Fishing with a Harpoon) (detail) (1851), oil on canvas, 115 × 159 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons.
In 1854, Gude was appointed professor in succession to his former teacher Schirmer, remarkable recognition for the Norwegian who wasn’t yet thirty years old. He tendered his resignation three years later, but didn’t actually leave Düsseldorf for a further five years.
Hans Gude (1825–1903), Norwegian Highlands (1857), oil on canvas, 79 x 106 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo. Wikimedia Commons.
In its composition and foreground detail, Norwegian Highlands (1857) conforms to Ruskin’s precepts, although it was painted in the studio from plein air studies and retains more traditional earth-based colours.
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