Painted plein air.

The study for ”Evening, Upper Ask", 86 x 132.5 cm. (Kokkin, op. cit., 2009, p. 90).

Upper Ask, situated c. 40 km. Northeast of Oslo by Tyrifjorden in Ringerike, was the country seat of the family of the artists wife, Nicoline, née Ravn Gram, whom he married at Upper Ask in 1879.

The group of houses in the distance is Lerdal Farmstead. From there one has a clear view of Tyrifjorden.

In the final picture Petersen has included a woman in the foreground seen from behind standing by the gate gazing at the sunset. The picture is referred to in a letter to his patron Diderik Maria Aall (1842-1889) from Upper Ask (Kokkin, op. cit., 2001):

"Jeg maler ude hele Tiden og holder på med flere Billeder, som jeg maler direkte efter Naturen, deriblandt et temmelig stort, som jeg tror skal blive rigtig vakkert - og det maler jeg fra Kl. 8 til 10 om Aftenen ude på Tunet - det tror jeg ikke mange har gjort meg efter, men det er i Grunden ikke så vanskeligt heroppe med disse deilige lyse Aftener.” [”I am painting outdoors all the time, amongst others several pictures directly in front of nature, one of them a large painting, which I believe will be very pleasing. I am working on it from 8 to 10 o´clock in the evening, which causes no problems due to the bright light.”]

A drawing depicting the same subject dated July 1881, 7.5 x 26 cm., is in Nasjonalgalleriet. Oslo (NG-K&H.1994.0236)