Peder Mork Mønsted (Danish, 1859–1941)
Snow Scene, ca. 1917–18
Oil on canvas, 28 x 39 3/4 in.
Signed and inscribed lower right: P. Mônsted Skogli-Lillehammer
Gift of C. Frederick Vorm and Arlowa S. Vorm
2015.6

Born at the end of the “Golden Age” of Danish painting, Mønsted is best known for landscapes of his home country in a style that has often been described as “virtuoso naturalism.” Our recently acquired painting is among the artist’s numerous winter scenes that illustrate a diverse set of influences—the distant figures recall one of the earliest winter landscapes, The Hunters in the Snow (1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, which is complemented by the detailed brushwork typical of Danish “Golden Age” painting and an Impressionist’s sensitivity to light. In Snow Scene Mønsted depicted a vignette from the rural outskirts of Lillehammer, which shows two figures moving along a snowy road past rustic cottages. The combination of charm and artistic skill in Mønsted’s winter scenes proved popular, and he showed four different views from around Lillehammer at the prestigious art exhibition at Charlottenburg Palace in Copenhagen, one in 1918, two in 1920, and another in 1923.