Study of Water and Plants

Thomas Fearnley

Oil on paper

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Painted on September 23, 1837, in Surrey during an extended sojourn in England, Study of Water and Plants is a plein-air oil study that vividly demonstrates Thomas Fearnley's mastery of rendering light and reflection on water, as well as the dense, botanically observed flora growing along the riverbank. The composition is dominated by lush vegetation rendered with meticulous attention to texture and form, framing a calm body of water whose reflective surface mirrors the overhanging foliage. Fearnley (1802–1842) was a leading Norwegian Romantic landscape painter, pupil of Johan Christian Dahl, and a traveler of extraordinary range who absorbed the influence of both the Dresden Romantic circle and English landscape painters such as John Constable. Now held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, this work stands as one of the most accomplished examples of Fearnley's intimate nature studies, distinguished by its directness of observation and atmospheric sensitivity.