Martinus Rørbye (Danish 1803-1848) Two shepherd boys in the Roman Campagna Dated 1835 and...

Martinus Rørbye (Danish 1803-1848)

Two shepherd boys in the Roman Campagna

Dated 1835 and inscribed Roma

Oil on paper laid on canvas

21.4 x 28.5cm; 8½ x 11¼in

Provenance:

Martinus Rørbye estate sale, Copenhagen, 1849, lot 41;

C. von Bornemann, 1905;

Hans Tobiesen (1881-1953);

his posthumous sale, Winkel et Magnussen, auction 388, 1954, no. 99

Literature:

Martinus Rørbye 1803-1848, catalogue raisonné (Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen, 1981), no. 97.

The painting is a preparatory work for a version in the Scottish National Gallery (NG 2707). At the time of Rørbye's estate sale the faces were unfinished, and these were later completed by Wilhelm Marstrand (1810-1873).