Copy of Landscape by M. Hobbema (Nasjonalmuseet, NG.M.00708)

This copy of a landscape by Meindert Hobbema, made in 1812 at the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo, demonstrates Dahl's early training through systematic copying of Old Master paintings in the Copenhagen collections. Hobbema, the Dutch seventeenth-century landscape painter known for his wooded scenes and water mills, was among the canonical masters whose work young landscape painters studied to understand the technical and compositional foundations of the genre. The 1812 date places this in Dahl's Copenhagen student years, when copying provided the technical foundation for his later original work. His choice to copy Hobbema rather than the more dramatically romantic painters reflects the practical, observationally grounded approach to nature that would remain central to his art despite his friendship with Caspar David Friedrich.

The copy demonstrates Dahl's careful study of Dutch Golden Age landscape technique, particularly Hobbema's treatment of trees, atmospheric perspective, and natural light effects. The exercise in Old Master technique provided a foundation for Dahl's later, more original landscape style.