Francis Danby
1793-1861
The Procession of Cristna
1830
7 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches (190 x 266 mm)
Watercolor and opaque watercolor, over graphite, on paper.
2001.18
Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978.
Notes
In the summer of 1825, Danby traveled through the mountains of Norway and sketched the terrain. Afterward he complained that "these kind of scenes are better in pictures than reality, and faith I own I was heartily sick of them," the Norwegian landscape haunted him for years, informing a number of later works, including the present drawing. This sublime fantasy has been speculatively named for Cristna, a lost poem by Danby that he referred to as "no more than a romance." Lacking an extant narrative, the interpretation remains mysterious: Nordic rocks loom over an exotic caravan, dwarfing elephants and a faceless throng of travelers
Associated names
Gibbons, Edward, Mrs., former owner.
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Classification
Century Drawings
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