Skip to main content

Caspar Wolf, 'The Geltenbach Falls with an Ice Bridge', about 1778

About the work

Overview

Geltenbach Falls (the Geltenschuss) lies in the Lauenen Valley in the Canton of Bern. Wolf painted this view as a preparatory study for a picture (Oskar Reinhart Collection ‘Am Römerholz’, Winterthur), painted for Abraham Wagner’s engraving project, Remarkable Views of the Swiss Mountains, on which Wolf started work in 1773. In the foreground a spring thaw has transformed the solid ice into a delicate ice bridge, whose elegant serpentine form contrasts with the formidable rock formations behind, out of which the waterfall surges.

There was growing scientific and artistic interest in the Alps in the late eighteenth century and during Wolf’s many excursions into the mountains he learned about glaciology and geology, and studied the rock and water formations in close detail.

Key facts

Details

Full title
The Geltenbach Falls in the Lauenen Valley with an Ice Bridge
Artist
Caspar Wolf
Artist dates
1735 - 1783
Date made
about 1778
Medium and support
Oil on paper laid onto hardboard
Dimensions
27.8 × 19.7 cm
Inscription summary
Inscribed
Acquisition credit
Private Collection, Devon
Inventory number
L1227
Location
Room 39
Image copyright
Private Collection, Devon, © Collection of Asbjørn Lunde
Collection
Main Collection

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images