Acquired by the family of the present owner by 1920

Possibly, Dresden, Sächsischer Kunstverein, 1848, no. 484 (as Norwegische Landschaft)

Marie Lødrup Bang, Johan Christian Dahl, 1788-1857. Life and Works, Oslo, 1987, vol. 2, pp. 322-23, no.📖 1083, catalogued; vol. 3, pl. 462, no. 1083 (the afterdrawing illustrated)

Original canvas. There are a few scattered spots of minor reotuching visible under ultraviolet light, notably to a small repair to the right of the bottom of the waterfall (patched on the reverse) and several spots in the lower right quadrant. Apart from very fine scattered craquelure, and light stretcher marks to the upper and right edges, this work is in very good condition, with rich colours and fine detail, and ready to hang.
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Painted in 1848, the whereabouts of the present was unknown until very recently, its existence only recorded by Dahl's 'afterdrawing' of the composition (fig. 1). Marie Lødrup Bang cites a study of the waterfall, inscribed 'Wed Feigum Fossen i Norge d. 8 August 1826 Lyster. JDahl' in the collection of the Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo (inv. B2831) as the basis for the left half of the painting. She also records another oil of the Feigumfoss dated 1840 (Bang no. 914, whereabouts unknown). 

Although Dahl settled permanently in Dresden after 1820, there establishing his international reputation, it was his love of the Norwegian landscape that fuelled his creative energies throughout his life. Returning to his homeland for extended study trips on various occasions, on one such visit in August 1826 he journeyed to Lyster (now Luster) in the glacial mountains of southern Norway, where the Sognefjord begins its path to the North Sea. There he sketched the drama of the Feigumfoss, which with a drop of more than 200 metres, is one of the tallest waterfalls in Scandinavia.

Waterfalls had been a favourite motif for Dahl over many years, both as an example of the phenomenon of nature and an expression of its awesome power. In his early works they appear as generalised romantic torrents. But as his landscapes became more and more location specific so they were either shown adjacent to a mill and thus harnessed to man's needs, or as symbols of the Sublime. Folkloric associations also link waterfalls with a bride's vale. The metaphor, in this instance is clearly suggested by the coursing flow of theꦜ water down the rock face. But the present oil of the Feigumfoss is also specifically linked to Dahl's own family. In 1847 his eldest daughter announced her engagement to a Norwegian officer Anders Ørsted Sandøe Bull, and the couple wed and settled in Christiania (Oslo) the year that the present work was painted. It is highly plausible therefore, that Dahl painted the present painting as a tribute to his daughter and her new found marital status.

FIG. 1, Johan Christian Dahl, View of the Feigumfoss in Lysterfiord, 1848, Bergen Billedgalleri, Bergen