In this connoisseur’s watercolour, Colombi used the palest violet washes on the hills and peaks on the opposite side of the lake to create a sense of distance.

One of the cleverest aspects of this ethereal composition is how the mist seems to float above the water from both shores together with the vaguest plume of umber in the water. A dry-brush technique with the lightest touch was used to delineate the leafless alder trees spreading across the entire drawing. This is a tour de force by an artist aware of japonisme and the economy required to be a successful practitioner of woodcuts.

The higher peaks beyond the snowy hills are the Blümlisalp and the Doldenhorn as seen here from the shore of Lake Thun a few miles to the west from Interlaken.