Martinus Rørbye (1803-1848) was one of the great painters of the so-called Danish Golden Age, the period between 1800-1850 which saw a blossoming of artistic endeavour. His oeuvre is very diverse and is characterised by uncommon versatility. Together with other contemporaries such as Johan Thomas Lundbye (1818-1848) and Christen Købke (1810-48), he sought out new avenues of artistic expression. But what made him stand apart was probably his itinerant lifestyle, which saw him travel far and wide, both within his own country as well as abroad. Although his foreign journeys in the late 1830s and 1840s led him to discover the wonders of foreign cultures in Italy, Greece and oriental Turkey, it was perhaps his empathy for the beautiful Danish countryside that marked him out as a truly wonderful artist.
Our painting was made in the summer of 1832, when Rørbye travelled around the southern part of Sealand province, in eastern Denmark [1]. He stayed with the family of his wife at Christianslund in a place called Vester Egede, which was surrounded by woods and a rolling hillside. It was perhaps the gentle nature of Denmark's countryside that Rørbye found most attractive, and in the present painting he has managed to convey a placid sense of a world at peace with itself.
Although it is a reasonably small canvas, the artist has managed to invest it with a sense of distance. The path that meanders out of sight across the painting draws the viewer out into the wider picture plane, which is marked only by indistinguishable figures such as a shepherd, a couple of walkers and a man on horseback. The flock of sheep is dotted criss-cross about the composition. By leaving the front of the painting flat, yet at an incline, the viewer feels the undulating nature of the hills. The copse in the middle of the painting dominates, but the curvaceous path that disappears into the depths of nature allows a sense of openness and freedom to inhabit the painting. The peaceful sense of quiet is underlined by the palette, with soft shades of pink and green immersing the composition in a warm glow. If anything, this work is an ode to the Danish outdoors.
Martinus Christian Wedseltoft Rørbye was born in Drammen, Norway, in 1803. In 1820 he enrolled at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, where he took tuition from C.W. Eckersberg. A greatly gifted draughtsman, he won medals at the Academy in 1824 and 1828. From 1824 onwards he started exhibiting at Charlottenborg. In 1834 and 1835 he visited Rome and Athens, which formed the start of a life of travel overseas. He returned to Copenhagen in 1837 and became Professor at the Royal Academy in 1844. He died in 1848.
Today his work can be found in the collections of many leading international museums, such as The Met in New York and LACMA in Los Angeles, as well as in all significant Scandinavian museums.
__________________________________
1. See for a useful chronology of Rørbye's life and travels: Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne, exh.cat Nivaagaards Malerisamling, Copenhagen 2014, pp. 237-245.
Our painting was made in the summer of 1832, when Rørbye travelled around the southern part of Sealand province, in eastern Denmark [1]. He stayed with the family of his wife at Christianslund in a place called Vester Egede, which was surrounded by woods and a rolling hillside. It was perhaps the gentle nature of Denmark's countryside that Rørbye found most attractive, and in the present painting he has managed to convey a placid sense of a world at peace with itself.
Although it is a reasonably small canvas, the artist has managed to invest it with a sense of distance. The path that meanders out of sight across the painting draws the viewer out into the wider picture plane, which is marked only by indistinguishable figures such as a shepherd, a couple of walkers and a man on horseback. The flock of sheep is dotted criss-cross about the composition. By leaving the front of the painting flat, yet at an incline, the viewer feels the undulating nature of the hills. The copse in the middle of the painting dominates, but the curvaceous path that disappears into the depths of nature allows a sense of openness and freedom to inhabit the painting. The peaceful sense of quiet is underlined by the palette, with soft shades of pink and green immersing the composition in a warm glow. If anything, this work is an ode to the Danish outdoors.
Martinus Christian Wedseltoft Rørbye was born in Drammen, Norway, in 1803. In 1820 he enrolled at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, where he took tuition from C.W. Eckersberg. A greatly gifted draughtsman, he won medals at the Academy in 1824 and 1828. From 1824 onwards he started exhibiting at Charlottenborg. In 1834 and 1835 he visited Rome and Athens, which formed the start of a life of travel overseas. He returned to Copenhagen in 1837 and became Professor at the Royal Academy in 1844. He died in 1848.
Today his work can be found in the collections of many leading international museums, such as The Met in New York and LACMA in Los Angeles, as well as in all significant Scandinavian museums.
__________________________________
1. See for a useful chronology of Rørbye's life and travels: Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne, exh.cat Nivaagaards Malerisamling, Copenhagen 2014, pp. 237-245.
View of Vester Egede, 1832
Signed lower right: MR 1832
Oil on canvas
24 x 34 cm
Provenance
Collection H. Gram, Copenhagen, by 1905;Bruun Rasmussen auction 433, 1981, as no. 172;
Private collection, Denmark
Exhibitions
"Fortegnelse over M. Rørbyes arbejder", Kunstforeningen Copenhagen, April-May 1905, nr. 37Literature
Martinus Rørbye 1803-1848, Thorvaldsens Museum, cat. raisonné, Copenhagen 1981, no. M 62
Martinus Rørbye (1803-1848) was one of the great painters of the so-called Danish Golden Age, the period between 1800-1850 which saw a blossoming of artistic endeavour. His oeuvre is very diverse and is characterised by uncommon versatility. Together with other contemporaries such as Johan Thomas Lundbye (1818-1848) and Christen Købke (1810-48), he sought out new avenues of artistic expression. But what made him stand apart was probably his itinerant lifestyle, which saw him travel far and wide, both within his own country as well as abroad. Although his foreign journeys in the late 1830s and 1840s led him to discover the wonders of foreign cultures in Italy, Greece and oriental Turkey, it was perhaps his empathy for the beautiful Danish countryside that marked him out as a truly wonderful artist.
Our painting was made in the summer of 1832, when Rørbye travelled around the southern part of Sealand province, in eastern Denmark [1]. He stayed with the family of his wife at Christianslund in a place called Vester Egede, which was surrounded by woods and a rolling hillside. It was perhaps the gentle nature of Denmark's countryside that Rørbye found most attractive, and in the present painting he has managed to convey a placid sense of a world at peace with itself.
Although it is a reasonably small canvas, the artist has managed to invest it with a sense of distance. The path that meanders out of sight across the painting draws the viewer out into the wider picture plane, which is marked only by indistinguishable figures such as a shepherd, a couple of walkers and a man on horseback. The flock of sheep is dotted criss-cross about the composition. By leaving the front of the painting flat, yet at an incline, the viewer feels the undulating nature of the hills. The copse in the middle of the painting dominates, but the curvaceous path that disappears into the depths of nature allows a sense of openness and freedom to inhabit the painting. The peaceful sense of quiet is underlined by the palette, with soft shades of pink and green immersing the composition in a warm glow. If anything, this work is an ode to the Danish outdoors.
Martinus Christian Wedseltoft Rørbye was born in Drammen, Norway, in 1803. In 1820 he enrolled at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, where he took tuition from C.W. Eckersberg. A greatly gifted draughtsman, he won medals at the Academy in 1824 and 1828. From 1824 onwards he started exhibiting at Charlottenborg. In 1834 and 1835 he visited Rome and Athens, which formed the start of a life of travel overseas. He returned to Copenhagen in 1837 and became Professor at the Royal Academy in 1844. He died in 1848.
Today his work can be found in the collections of many leading international museums, such as The Met in New York and LACMA in Los Angeles, as well as in all significant Scandinavian museums.
__________________________________
1. See for a useful chronology of Rørbye's life and travels: Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne, exh.cat Nivaagaards Malerisamling, Copenhagen 2014, pp. 237-245.
Our painting was made in the summer of 1832, when Rørbye travelled around the southern part of Sealand province, in eastern Denmark [1]. He stayed with the family of his wife at Christianslund in a place called Vester Egede, which was surrounded by woods and a rolling hillside. It was perhaps the gentle nature of Denmark's countryside that Rørbye found most attractive, and in the present painting he has managed to convey a placid sense of a world at peace with itself.
Although it is a reasonably small canvas, the artist has managed to invest it with a sense of distance. The path that meanders out of sight across the painting draws the viewer out into the wider picture plane, which is marked only by indistinguishable figures such as a shepherd, a couple of walkers and a man on horseback. The flock of sheep is dotted criss-cross about the composition. By leaving the front of the painting flat, yet at an incline, the viewer feels the undulating nature of the hills. The copse in the middle of the painting dominates, but the curvaceous path that disappears into the depths of nature allows a sense of openness and freedom to inhabit the painting. The peaceful sense of quiet is underlined by the palette, with soft shades of pink and green immersing the composition in a warm glow. If anything, this work is an ode to the Danish outdoors.
Martinus Christian Wedseltoft Rørbye was born in Drammen, Norway, in 1803. In 1820 he enrolled at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, where he took tuition from C.W. Eckersberg. A greatly gifted draughtsman, he won medals at the Academy in 1824 and 1828. From 1824 onwards he started exhibiting at Charlottenborg. In 1834 and 1835 he visited Rome and Athens, which formed the start of a life of travel overseas. He returned to Copenhagen in 1837 and became Professor at the Royal Academy in 1844. He died in 1848.
Today his work can be found in the collections of many leading international museums, such as The Met in New York and LACMA in Los Angeles, as well as in all significant Scandinavian museums.
__________________________________
1. See for a useful chronology of Rørbye's life and travels: Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne, exh.cat Nivaagaards Malerisamling, Copenhagen 2014, pp. 237-245.
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