Robert Zünd: an ideal landscape with a hammer price of CHF 80,000

From Buochs, Robert Zünd turned his gaze to Lake Lucerne and the Alps — the result is one of his masterpieces. Zünd loved summery landscapes flooded with light. He painted trees and groups of trees, captured their mood at a particular time of day and impressed through the refinement of his craft. The signed but undated picture is exemplary of his classical compositions.

«Ideal real landscape»

Zünd created his works above all for the rising middle class; he was a friend of the Winterthur industrialist Theodor Reinhart. Gottfried Keller described Zünd’s landscapes as «ideal real landscape or real ideal landscape». Like the writer from Zurich, the painter from Lucerne was among the best-known Swiss artists of the second half of the 19th century — not an avant-gardist but a loner with an unmistakable style, who hardly ever left his home town for any length of time.

At the Spring Auction 2024 the landscape «Bei Luzern» (Near Lucerne) achieved a hammer price of CHF 80,000, placing it among the highest results for a painting at our house.