Oil Study

There are no known descriptions or photographs of this study.

When Astrup died in 1928, the study was inherited by his widow Engel Astrup (1892–1966). At the memorial exhibitions in Bergen and Kristiania (Oslo) that same year, this was one of the pictures she put up for sale. The price of this study was 500 kroner, but it was not sold. A letter from the Bergens kunstforening to Christiania kunstforening (art societies) states that: “the unreasonably high prices demanded by Mrs. Astrup have prevented any sales. Hopefully – both for the sake of Mrs. Astrup and yourself – she will revise the prices when the exhibition opens in Oslo.” Engel Astrup had received good advice in relation to the pricing. She was left with large debts after her husband’s death, and the sale of paintings still in his studio was a welcome source of future income. The history of the work after 1928 is unknown, but the study may be one of the oil sketches the Norwegian National Gallery bought from Engel Astrup in 1949.