According to one eminent Danish art historian, P.C. Skovgaard (1817-1875) was "the most gifted painter of the period after 1850" in Danish art [1]. The reason for this was Skovgaard's ability to see the natural architecture of any landscape and transpose this onto the canvas seemingly with ease. Essentially, Skovgaard was exceptionally versatile, equally capable of producing grand sweeping panoramas as well as delicate, beautiful plein-air studies. He was one of the first Danish artists to paint detailed studies of plants or trees, almost as a botanical record. This was certainly novel at the time and puts Skovgaard in a category similar to the German landscape painter Christian Friedrich Gille.
Having been born in 1817 in Ringsted, Skovgaard commenced his formal training in 1831 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. By 1836, he was participating in the prestigious exhibitions at Charlottenborg, resulting in the sale of one of his paintings to the Royal Collections in 1839. His friendship in the 1840s with fellow painter J. Th. Lundbye was crucial to the way Skovgaard has since been defined in Danish art history. Lundbye became, for a while, the main protaganist of a specifically Danish form of Romantic landcape painting, which centred mainly around the production of peaceful but earnest panoramas of a rather aggrandised Danish countryside. The choice of subject - often towering white chalk cliffs or majestic forests - was bound up with the emerging nationalism that held sway in mid 19th-century Denmark, which led to the country being extolled as a shining city on a hill and a veritable paradise on earth. At the time, not least due to their friendship, Lundbye and Skovgaard were regarded as two of a kind, and Skovgaard certainly made paintings in the same Romantic vein as Lundbye for a while. Skovgaard is still mainly known in his native country for much of his work dating from this period - for example, his rather overwhelming portrayals of grand copper beeches and the chalk cliffs on the Isle of Mon [2]. But this should not overshadow the fact that he was always a much subtler artist than this might suggest.
Our painting is a study of a work that can today be seen in Copenhagen's Hirschsprung museum [3]. The study was completed in the summer of 1844, as part of a number of oil studies that Skovgaard finished whilst travelling around Sealand province with Lundbye, as they were often wont to do. The landscape shown is the area around the river Halleby near Kalundborg. Skovgaard has made sparing use of paint in trying to capture an almost fleeting stillness. Two-thirds of the canvas is occupied by a clear blue sky punctuated by floating clouds. The head of the river and the tree on the left provide a visual resting point and emphasize the overall placidity of the scene. Although understated, it shows how gifted Skovgaard was at quietly but effectively depicting mood and atmosphere of a landscape. The finished painting in the Hirschsprung museum is essentialy unaltered, save for the addition of some staffage.
Skovgaard continued to develop his range as an artist throughout his life, and to this end he visited Italy a number of times in the 1850s and 1860s together with his fellow painter Wilhelm Marstrand. He became a professor at the Copenhagen academy and also ventured abroad with his art, participating in the world exhibition in London in 1862.
Today, as one would expect, his work can be seen in all leading Danish museums.
__________________________________
1. Vagn Poulsen, Danish Painting and Sculpture (Copenhagen, 1976), p. 86.
2. The most famous of these is a canvas entitled "Cliffs of Mon", 1846, which can today be seen in the Fuglsang Kunstmuseum. See Gertrud Oelsner and Karina Lykke Grand (ed), P.C. Skovgaard. Dansk guldalder revurderet (Aarhus, 2010), p. 193. Skovgaard returned to this theme repeatedly over the following years.
3. Jan Gorm Madsen, Jesper Svenningsen and Marianne Saabye (ed), The Hirschsprung Collection of Works by Danish Artists. Catalogue of Paintings and Sculptures (Copenhagen, 2009), inv. nr. 451, p. 164.
Having been born in 1817 in Ringsted, Skovgaard commenced his formal training in 1831 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. By 1836, he was participating in the prestigious exhibitions at Charlottenborg, resulting in the sale of one of his paintings to the Royal Collections in 1839. His friendship in the 1840s with fellow painter J. Th. Lundbye was crucial to the way Skovgaard has since been defined in Danish art history. Lundbye became, for a while, the main protaganist of a specifically Danish form of Romantic landcape painting, which centred mainly around the production of peaceful but earnest panoramas of a rather aggrandised Danish countryside. The choice of subject - often towering white chalk cliffs or majestic forests - was bound up with the emerging nationalism that held sway in mid 19th-century Denmark, which led to the country being extolled as a shining city on a hill and a veritable paradise on earth. At the time, not least due to their friendship, Lundbye and Skovgaard were regarded as two of a kind, and Skovgaard certainly made paintings in the same Romantic vein as Lundbye for a while. Skovgaard is still mainly known in his native country for much of his work dating from this period - for example, his rather overwhelming portrayals of grand copper beeches and the chalk cliffs on the Isle of Mon [2]. But this should not overshadow the fact that he was always a much subtler artist than this might suggest.
Our painting is a study of a work that can today be seen in Copenhagen's Hirschsprung museum [3]. The study was completed in the summer of 1844, as part of a number of oil studies that Skovgaard finished whilst travelling around Sealand province with Lundbye, as they were often wont to do. The landscape shown is the area around the river Halleby near Kalundborg. Skovgaard has made sparing use of paint in trying to capture an almost fleeting stillness. Two-thirds of the canvas is occupied by a clear blue sky punctuated by floating clouds. The head of the river and the tree on the left provide a visual resting point and emphasize the overall placidity of the scene. Although understated, it shows how gifted Skovgaard was at quietly but effectively depicting mood and atmosphere of a landscape. The finished painting in the Hirschsprung museum is essentialy unaltered, save for the addition of some staffage.
Skovgaard continued to develop his range as an artist throughout his life, and to this end he visited Italy a number of times in the 1850s and 1860s together with his fellow painter Wilhelm Marstrand. He became a professor at the Copenhagen academy and also ventured abroad with his art, participating in the world exhibition in London in 1862.
Today, as one would expect, his work can be seen in all leading Danish museums.
__________________________________
1. Vagn Poulsen, Danish Painting and Sculpture (Copenhagen, 1976), p. 86.
2. The most famous of these is a canvas entitled "Cliffs of Mon", 1846, which can today be seen in the Fuglsang Kunstmuseum. See Gertrud Oelsner and Karina Lykke Grand (ed), P.C. Skovgaard. Dansk guldalder revurderet (Aarhus, 2010), p. 193. Skovgaard returned to this theme repeatedly over the following years.
3. Jan Gorm Madsen, Jesper Svenningsen and Marianne Saabye (ed), The Hirschsprung Collection of Works by Danish Artists. Catalogue of Paintings and Sculptures (Copenhagen, 2009), inv. nr. 451, p. 164.
Landscape around Halleby River, 1844
Unsigned but dated 'Den 5. August 1844"
Oil on canvas
28 x 39 cm
Provenance
Private collection, The Netherlands
According to one eminent Danish art historian, P.C. Skovgaard (1817-1875) was "the most gifted painter of the period after 1850" in Danish art [1]. The reason for this was Skovgaard's ability to see the natural architecture of any landscape and transpose this onto the canvas seemingly with ease. Essentially, Skovgaard was exceptionally versatile, equally capable of producing grand sweeping panoramas as well as delicate, beautiful plein-air studies. He was one of the first Danish artists to paint detailed studies of plants or trees, almost as a botanical record. This was certainly novel at the time and puts Skovgaard in a category similar to the German landscape painter Christian Friedrich Gille.
Having been born in 1817 in Ringsted, Skovgaard commenced his formal training in 1831 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. By 1836, he was participating in the prestigious exhibitions at Charlottenborg, resulting in the sale of one of his paintings to the Royal Collections in 1839. His friendship in the 1840s with fellow painter J. Th. Lundbye was crucial to the way Skovgaard has since been defined in Danish art history. Lundbye became, for a while, the main protaganist of a specifically Danish form of Romantic landcape painting, which centred mainly around the production of peaceful but earnest panoramas of a rather aggrandised Danish countryside. The choice of subject - often towering white chalk cliffs or majestic forests - was bound up with the emerging nationalism that held sway in mid 19th-century Denmark, which led to the country being extolled as a shining city on a hill and a veritable paradise on earth. At the time, not least due to their friendship, Lundbye and Skovgaard were regarded as two of a kind, and Skovgaard certainly made paintings in the same Romantic vein as Lundbye for a while. Skovgaard is still mainly known in his native country for much of his work dating from this period - for example, his rather overwhelming portrayals of grand copper beeches and the chalk cliffs on the Isle of Mon [2]. But this should not overshadow the fact that he was always a much subtler artist than this might suggest.
Our painting is a study of a work that can today be seen in Copenhagen's Hirschsprung museum [3]. The study was completed in the summer of 1844, as part of a number of oil studies that Skovgaard finished whilst travelling around Sealand province with Lundbye, as they were often wont to do. The landscape shown is the area around the river Halleby near Kalundborg. Skovgaard has made sparing use of paint in trying to capture an almost fleeting stillness. Two-thirds of the canvas is occupied by a clear blue sky punctuated by floating clouds. The head of the river and the tree on the left provide a visual resting point and emphasize the overall placidity of the scene. Although understated, it shows how gifted Skovgaard was at quietly but effectively depicting mood and atmosphere of a landscape. The finished painting in the Hirschsprung museum is essentialy unaltered, save for the addition of some staffage.
Skovgaard continued to develop his range as an artist throughout his life, and to this end he visited Italy a number of times in the 1850s and 1860s together with his fellow painter Wilhelm Marstrand. He became a professor at the Copenhagen academy and also ventured abroad with his art, participating in the world exhibition in London in 1862.
Today, as one would expect, his work can be seen in all leading Danish museums.
__________________________________
1. Vagn Poulsen, Danish Painting and Sculpture (Copenhagen, 1976), p. 86.
2. The most famous of these is a canvas entitled "Cliffs of Mon", 1846, which can today be seen in the Fuglsang Kunstmuseum. See Gertrud Oelsner and Karina Lykke Grand (ed), P.C. Skovgaard. Dansk guldalder revurderet (Aarhus, 2010), p. 193. Skovgaard returned to this theme repeatedly over the following years.
3. Jan Gorm Madsen, Jesper Svenningsen and Marianne Saabye (ed), The Hirschsprung Collection of Works by Danish Artists. Catalogue of Paintings and Sculptures (Copenhagen, 2009), inv. nr. 451, p. 164.
Having been born in 1817 in Ringsted, Skovgaard commenced his formal training in 1831 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. By 1836, he was participating in the prestigious exhibitions at Charlottenborg, resulting in the sale of one of his paintings to the Royal Collections in 1839. His friendship in the 1840s with fellow painter J. Th. Lundbye was crucial to the way Skovgaard has since been defined in Danish art history. Lundbye became, for a while, the main protaganist of a specifically Danish form of Romantic landcape painting, which centred mainly around the production of peaceful but earnest panoramas of a rather aggrandised Danish countryside. The choice of subject - often towering white chalk cliffs or majestic forests - was bound up with the emerging nationalism that held sway in mid 19th-century Denmark, which led to the country being extolled as a shining city on a hill and a veritable paradise on earth. At the time, not least due to their friendship, Lundbye and Skovgaard were regarded as two of a kind, and Skovgaard certainly made paintings in the same Romantic vein as Lundbye for a while. Skovgaard is still mainly known in his native country for much of his work dating from this period - for example, his rather overwhelming portrayals of grand copper beeches and the chalk cliffs on the Isle of Mon [2]. But this should not overshadow the fact that he was always a much subtler artist than this might suggest.
Our painting is a study of a work that can today be seen in Copenhagen's Hirschsprung museum [3]. The study was completed in the summer of 1844, as part of a number of oil studies that Skovgaard finished whilst travelling around Sealand province with Lundbye, as they were often wont to do. The landscape shown is the area around the river Halleby near Kalundborg. Skovgaard has made sparing use of paint in trying to capture an almost fleeting stillness. Two-thirds of the canvas is occupied by a clear blue sky punctuated by floating clouds. The head of the river and the tree on the left provide a visual resting point and emphasize the overall placidity of the scene. Although understated, it shows how gifted Skovgaard was at quietly but effectively depicting mood and atmosphere of a landscape. The finished painting in the Hirschsprung museum is essentialy unaltered, save for the addition of some staffage.
Skovgaard continued to develop his range as an artist throughout his life, and to this end he visited Italy a number of times in the 1850s and 1860s together with his fellow painter Wilhelm Marstrand. He became a professor at the Copenhagen academy and also ventured abroad with his art, participating in the world exhibition in London in 1862.
Today, as one would expect, his work can be seen in all leading Danish museums.
__________________________________
1. Vagn Poulsen, Danish Painting and Sculpture (Copenhagen, 1976), p. 86.
2. The most famous of these is a canvas entitled "Cliffs of Mon", 1846, which can today be seen in the Fuglsang Kunstmuseum. See Gertrud Oelsner and Karina Lykke Grand (ed), P.C. Skovgaard. Dansk guldalder revurderet (Aarhus, 2010), p. 193. Skovgaard returned to this theme repeatedly over the following years.
3. Jan Gorm Madsen, Jesper Svenningsen and Marianne Saabye (ed), The Hirschsprung Collection of Works by Danish Artists. Catalogue of Paintings and Sculptures (Copenhagen, 2009), inv. nr. 451, p. 164.
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