Oak Forest

Shown is the 'Oak Forest' between Lucerne and Horw, near the home of Zünd. The same forest can be seen from outside on inv. 2504.
The invention of the picture dates back to the 1860s; the indirect preliminary stage is a 'pochade' with two deer in the middle; whether the version in the Museum of Art Lucerne (77.7 x 104.2 cm) precedes the Zurich version or is the repetition documented for 1886/87 requires further clarification (see Robert Zünd (exh. cat. Lucerne 2004), ill. p. 109, 112-117). In any case, according to Gottfried Keller's description in his 'Bescheidenen Kunstreischen' (1881), the unusually large picture is based entirely on a smaller version.