August Wilhelm Leu (1819-97) was a pupil of JW Schirmer at the Academy in Düsseldorf. He continued to produce studies of landscapes during travels through Norway, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. He was a professor at, and subsequently a member of, the Academy in Berlin. His work was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1855, 1863, and 1878.

Rjukanfossen is a waterfall in the Westfjord valley in Tinn, a municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway. It forms part of the Måne river, and was formerly a major tourist attraction, being the first waterfall to be floodlit via electricity generated by the waterfall itself.

This depiction shows a wooded, rugged landscape with, in the foreground, a chasm into which a rocky river descends in a foaming waterfall; in the middle distance a wooded wilderness with a range of low mountains in the distance.