Edward Theodore Compton
(1849 – 1921)
Mountain Landscape (Dolomit Landschaft), s.a.
oil on canvas
149,6 x 93,2cm
MG-690

Edward Theodore Compton, a self-taught painter, was fascinated by nature as a child and it will remain his main painting motif throughout his life. He sporadically attended various art schools in England. In 1869, he travelled to Munich via Darmstadt, and from 1873 he lived and worked in Feldafing on Lake Starnberg. He visited the Alps and was fascinated by their harsh nature, not only as a painter but also as a skilled mountain climber, and Alpine scenery will become one of the most frequent motifs of his landscapes. As a prominent landscape painter, he was interested in different landscapes, so he travelled to various Mediterranean countries (north Africa, Corsica, Spain). He illustrated the publications of the German and Austrian Alpine Associations.
Compton’s painting oeuvre is prolific, it includes landscapes rendered in different techniques (oil, watercolour, ink drawings). He created several thematic landscape series. Initially painting in the English romantic tradition, Compton later developed a more realistic representation of nature. His work is also remarkable for its portrayal of atmospheric changes. With his painting style, he influenced his son, the famous painter Edward Harrison and his daughter Dora. Paintings of Compton father and son are often auctioned by European auction houses.
The Mountain Landscape painting from the museum collection is a representation of harsh Alpine peaks that the painter himself climbed, which enabled him to create an unusually unconventional framing of the jagged mountain range and a direct realistic approach. Left side of the painting provokes discomfort with its representation of an inaccessible mountain massif rendered in a gamut of brown hues ranging from bright to deeply disconcerting, almost black hues in the central part of the picture. As a counterpoint of sorts, a deep calming horizon of bluish peaks opens to the right, merging with clouds in its colouristic transparency.

Text: Dajana Vlaisavljević, museum consultant © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, 2022
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, 2022

Skip to content