Paul Fischer (Denmark 1860‑1934). Landscape with cows and a shepherd next to a dolmen. Signed and dated Poul Fischer 84. Oil on panel, 31 x 22.5 cm.
The dolmen is the oldest type of megalithic tomb in Northern Europe. Most date from the Stone age around 2600‑3350 B.C. They are common in Northern Germany and Denmark. In Sweden they occur along the coasts of Skåne and the west coast.
Fischer might have been inspired by the German romantic painter, Caspar David Friedrich (1774‑1840), who made a painting of a stone dolmen at Gützkow in 1836‑37, aqcuired by Prince Christian Fredrik around 1838, later King Christian VIII (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, exhibition catalogue: Caspar David Friedrich. Den besjälade naturen, 2009‑2010, no. 10, illustrated). The wash painting by Friedrich is kept at the library at Fredriksborg Castle, where Fischer could have studied it.