OLOF ARBORELIUS1842-1915Wetterhorn, SchweizSignerad med monogram OA. Olja p? duk, 60,5 x 37,5 cm.PROVENIENSOlof Arborelius sterbhusd?refter genom arv fram till 2020UTST?LLDOlof Arborelius. Minnesutst?llning, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 1943, katalognr 29Signed with monogram OA. Oil on canvas.Authenticated on the reverse by Gustaf Jaensson (1891-1981), Chief restorer at Nationalmuseum, Stockholm from 1921PROVENANCEThe artist's deceased estate;thence by descent until 2020EXHIBITEDOlof Arborelius. Minnesutst?llning [Memorial exhibition], Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 11 February-10 March 1943, cat. No. 29 (Wetterhorn. 37x60)Painted plein air during the artist's journey to Italy in 1870. Wetterhorn, 3 692 meters high, is situated outside the village Grindelwald in the Swizz Bernalps. Sir Winston Churchill climbed Wetterhorn in 1894. Wetterhorn was much admired by nineteenth century artists and a number of paintings depicting the mountain from various angles are known. Arborelius's stay in Italy lasted for about two years. He there painted a number of plein air studies of which "Wetterhorn" is one of the largest. He left Italy during the winter 1872. Arborelius's studies executed during this journey belongs to the earliest known plein air paintings by a Swedish artist of the second half of the nineteenth century. Viggo Loos, Friluftsm?leriets genombrott i svensk konst 1860-85, 1935, p. 122 wrote: "Alfred Wahlbergs och Gustaf Rydbergs bilder utg?ra en uvertyr till v?rt friluftsm?leri. Till den uvertyren kunna med full r?tt ocks? r?knas Arborelius′ italienska studier med sin koloristiska k?nslighet och sitt intensiva luft- och ljusstudium. I dem n?dde konstn?ren under fransk p?verkan en konstn?rlig h?jdpunkt." (The painters Alfred Wahlberg's and Gustaf Rydberg's oil studies represent an overture in Swedish plein air painting. To this selective group can now be added Arborelius with his studies painted in Italy, which are characterized by coloristic sensitivity and intense attention to atmosphere and light. In these, the artist reached an artistic height under the influence of [!] French Painting).In the catalogue of the memorial exhibition at Nationalmuseum in 1943, the art historian Folke Holmér wrote:"Hans skisser fr?n medelhavskusten h?ra till de mest m?leriska i hans tidiga produktion och kunna gott m?ta sig med det b?sta, som svenska artister ?verhuvud ?stadkommit i Italien." (The sketches he made in the Meditteranian belongs to the most painterly in his early production, and equals anything previously painted by a Swedish artist in Italy).