Copy of Landscape by M. Hobbema

This 1812 copy after Meindert Hobbema — a second version joining the companion copy also made in 1812 — demonstrates the thoroughness of Dahl's Old Master study program at the Copenhagen Academy. Producing two copies of works by the same Dutch master in a single year suggests systematic study rather than incidental practice: Dahl was absorbing Hobbema's compositional approach to wooded landscape, his handling of dappled light through foliage, and his treatment of water as both reflective surface and atmospheric element. Two copies of the same artist in the same year is evidence of sustained engagement with a specific visual problem — the translation of Dutch seventeenth-century landscape technique into the observational vocabulary Dahl was developing.

The copy demonstrates Dahl's careful study of Hobbema's techniques for rendering foliage and dappled woodland light, providing insight into the Dutch Golden Age foundations of his later Norwegian landscapes.