PLEIN AIR HERITAGE
Like his mentor and fellow Norwegian, Johan Christian Dahl, Thomas Fearnley (1802–1842) alternated between large, composed landscapes meant for exhibition and smaller, plein air oil sketches. They parted ways, however, when it came to subject matter. While Dahl urged him to specialize in local landscapes, Fearnley preferred to travel and sketch widely throughout Europe. With its bright, small sun at the center emphasizing the fleeting quality of the moment, and the stark lines in the clouds hinting at the oncoming darkness, Sunset, Sorrento illustrates the attention the artist paid to the role of light in his studies. Upon the artist’s death at age 39, this sketch and myriad others surfaced. Although Fearnley considered them incomplete works, Dahl argued they were “better than his finished paintings, for in them he gave of…