Constantin Hansen - Group of Danish Artists in Rome [1837]

Constantin Hansen - Group of Danish Artists in Rome [1837], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A group of Danish artists are gathered in a room in Rome. Not, however, to celebrate as was their wont when meeting each other during their sojourns abroad. The objective of their assembly is far more serious: They are discussing art. Speaking from the floor, the architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll (1800-1856) relates the experiences of his recent travels in Greece, a country that was unfamiliar territory to most Europeans at the time due to the many years of Turkish occupation. The other artists listen with varying degrees of interest and attention.

Constantin Hansen (1804 - 1880) was very ambitious when painting this picture. He let himself be inspired by Renaissance depictions of artists, transforming them to suit the ideals of his own era. Through the doors we see the greatest source of inspiration for the artists of the time: contemporary reality. Constantin Hansen prepared the painting carefully, painting studies of each participant, and he had his fellow artist Albert Küchler (1803-1886) paint a study of himself. From the left the persons depicted are: the artist himself, Bindesbøll, Martinus Rørbye (1803-1848), Wilhelm Marstrand (1810-1873), Küchler, Ditlev Blunck (1798-1853), and Jørgen Sonne (1801-1890). With its serious atmosphere the painting stands out among the pictures of carefree Italian living that Danish audiences saw so many of at the time.

Anthony Serres - Reclining Nude

Anthony Serres - Reclining Nude, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Anthony Serres (1828 - 1898) was a French painter.

[Oil on canvas, 50 x 75 cm]

Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann - An Egyptian Fellah Woman with her Baby [1872]

Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann - An Egyptian Fellah Woman with her Baby [1872], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Baumann (1819 - 1881) was a rare artist in her own day. Partly because she was a woman, but also because of her unusual openness towards the exotic and the unknown. This painting is an excellent example of Baumann’s keen sense for the erotic and the sensuous.

This painting of an Egyptian farm worker is among the most striking of Jerichau Baumann’s oriental scenes. The nudity beneath the sheer silk fabric, the exotic jewellery, the reddening evening sky, and the dark colours all infuse it with a sensuous quality that must have had a strong impact in the 1870s, a time when the body was still viewed with suspicion. Indeed, Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann occupies a unique position within Danish post-1850 art in more ways than one. Hailing from a Polish-German background, she had a wider horizon than most Danish artists, who would primarily strive to identify and cultivate the uniquely Danish. She had an openness to all things foreign and exotic that was rarely seen in Denmark at the time; her only real match in that regard would be Hans Christian Andersen. The wanderlust of an artist took her to Turkey, Greece, and Egypt (1869-70 and 1874-75), furnishing her with a rich fount of oriental motifs.

Carl Bloch - Samson and the Philistines [1863]

Carl Bloch - Samson and the Philistines [1863], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

With Samson and the Philistines, painted in Rome in 1863, Bloch (1834 - 1890) entered the Danish art scene in earnest. With his virtuoso technique and narrative devices such as the way we as spectators are drawn into the scene, and the sheer concentrated action of the piece he brought Danish art on a par with contemporary European history painting. Art history has reproached Bloch for his pronounced use of theatrical effects.

Samson was followed by several similar pictures, which brought Bloch great recognition, carving him a reputation among his contemporaries as Denmark’s greatest painter. Bloch’s principal work is the series of 23 paintings with scenes from the New Testament that the brewer J.C. Jacobsen (1811-1887) of Carlsberg fame commissioned in 1865 as decorations for King Christian IV’s (1577-1648) prayer seat in Frederiksborg Chapel.

Sir Henry Raeburn - The Archers [c.1789-90]

Sir Henry Raeburn - The Archers [c.1789-90], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Archers is one of a small number of outstanding portraits from the early part of Raeburn's career, in which he employed an exceptionally accomplished and subtle fusion of arresting compositions and dramatic treatment of light and shade to create a sense of intimacy between the spectator and the sitters. The portrait is datable to about 1789 or 1790, when the young subjects were in their late teens. Robert and Ronald Ferguson became members of the Royal Company of Archers in 1792 and 1801 respectively and the contemporary revival of archery as a fashionable sport appears to have served as inspiration for the composition. 

The two brothers are shown in a striking and complex arrangement of contrasts. Robert is lit from the left, while Ronald behind him is shown entirely in shadow, gazing out at the viewer while framed in the tautened bow of his brother. The stillness, darkness and broad, confident application of paint combine to create a sense of hushed atmosphere, which is at once formal and verging on the romantic.

[Oil on canvas, 110.5 x 123.5 cm]

Imitator of Jan van Goyen - Sailing Vessels on a River in a Breeze [1650s]

Imitator of Jan van Goyen - Sailing Vessels on a River in a Breeze [1650s], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This picture shows a group of sailing boats making their way across the choppy waters of a Dutch river. In the distance the shore and the outline of an unidentified town can just be discerned. Ships of this type were used in the Netherlands to transport people and goods around the country. In the 17th century the country had a tight network of boat services between all the major towns and cities. 

In the past this painting was attributed to Jan van Goyen, mostly because of the false signature and date it once bore. It is now considered to have been painted by a follower, imitating the artist's late style.

[Oil on oak, 37.1 x 53.1 cm]

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg - Russian Ship of the Line Assow and a Frigate at Anchor in the Roads of Elsinore [1828]

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg - Russian Ship of the Line Assow and a Frigate at Anchor in the Roads of Elsinore [1828], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Eckersberg had studied Russian ships of the line on two occasions before embarking on the painting of the Asow in 1828. Both times, however, his studies were made at Copenhagen, not Elsinore as shown in this picture. Thus, this painting is not a faithful reproduction of a single, specific scene; it is a presentation of what the ship would look like if viewed from a favourable position on the Oresund.

Eckersberg prepared the painting with great care. He borrowed plans of ships of the line from the Danish navy, and he painstakingly calculated the relative positions of the ships on the water. He also studied the light, wind, and other meteorological conditions before commencing work, taking extra care to paint the cloud formations as realistically as possible. After 1821 seascapes had become Eckersberg’s favourite subject. They allowed him to bring together his interest in nature, ships, and meteorology, and over the next three decades he had the opportunity to depict almost every conceivable type of ship in every marine situation imaginable.