Edge of the Woods with Flock of Sheep

To be identified with some certainty with the painting that Adolf and Mina Tobler-Blumer ordered in June 1896 during a visit to the studio and received shortly before 15.III.1897. In a letter to Zünd dated 20.III.1897 (Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Ms Z II 716, 49, 12), Mrs. Tobler notes about the painting that it, 'as you rightly write, has such a soothing effect through its tranquility'.
Depicted is the Allmend and the 'Eichwald' (oak forest) between Lucerne and Horw not far from Zünd's house. An interior view of the same forest is shown in inv. 437, a smaller version without sheep but with rainbow in Robert Zünd (exh. cat. Lucerne 2004), p. 98, a larger one with three wayside crosses in the Museum of Art Lucerne (see Robert Zünd in seiner Zeit (exh. cat. Lucerne 1978), no. 38 with no. 37 and Z 36).