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Skiers at the Top of a Snow-covered Hill
Frits Thaulow (Norwegian, 1847–1906)
1894
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
52.7 x 98.4 cm (20 3/4 x 38 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Miss Aimée and Miss Rosamond Lamb
Accession Number1978.681
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Frits Thaulow traveled within Norway to depict skiers in the county of Telemark, west of Oslo, known as the birthplace of skiing. The sport was quickly becoming a popular pastime, especially among the wealthier classes. Thaulow likely painted this in November 1894, when he returned to Norway from France following the death of his mother. Influenced by French Impressionist techniques and his friend Claude Monet, Thaulow utilized an unusual vantage point to emphasize the expanse of snow crisscrossed with the distant skiers’ tracks and footprints.
InscriptionsLower left: Frits Thaulow 94
ProvenanceProbably Horatio Appleton Lamb (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; probably by descent to his daughters, Aimée Lamb (b. 1893 - d. 1989) and Rosamond Lamb (b. 1898 - d. 1989), Boston; 1978, gift of Misses Aimée and Rosamond Lamb to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 10, 1979)
NOTES:
[1] Horatio Appleton Lamb was a Boston collector who left many works of art to his daughters, Aimée and Rosamond Lamb. While it has not been established when or how he acquired this painting, he purchased a pastel by Thaulow in Paris in 1891 (MFA accession no. 1972.980), and he may have acquired this around the same time.
NOTES:
[1] Horatio Appleton Lamb was a Boston collector who left many works of art to his daughters, Aimée and Rosamond Lamb. While it has not been established when or how he acquired this painting, he purchased a pastel by Thaulow in Paris in 1891 (MFA accession no. 1972.980), and he may have acquired this around the same time.