Like the 17th century in Holland, the Danish Golden Age in the first half of the 19th century was an important period in which painting grew and flourished. Despite the gap of almost 200 years the Dutch masters were a source of inspiration for painters in Denmark. Danish artists were enthralled by the work of their Dutch predecessors, which they saw in the art collections in Copenhagen and on their travels abroad. Genre pieces, landscapes, portraits, church interiors and seascapes were all adapted in a highly individual manner to the taste of the 19th-century Danish public.
The wealth of colour illustrations in this book presents a fascinating comparison of Dutch and Danish paintings. The essays by leading Danish art historians examine and analyze the connections between the works and create a picture of the cultural climates in which they came about.
Although almost 200 years separate the Dutch and Danish Golden Ages of painting, it is nevertheless very much apropos to point out the influence from the 17th-century Dutch masters on the painters of the Danish Golden Age. This influence results from the fact that during the first half of the 19th century Copenhagen housed considerable collections of Dutch art which the Danish artists could see and study. First and foremost, there was the Royal Collection of Paintings, which was divided off from the old Royal Kunstkammer as well as the royal palaces in the 1820s and from 1827 was accessible in Christiansborg Palace in a hanging containing about 1000 carefully selected works. Over half of these were by Dutch and Flemish masters, and a large proportion of them had been bought in Holland by the royal family’s art dealer Gerhard Morell in the period from the mid-1750s to the mid-1760s.
Foreword
Introduction
The Dutch Dimension in Danish Golden Age Landscape Painting
Bourgeois Home Life in the Two Golden Ages- influences and correspondences
The Garments of the Body and Soul On "the Interesting"
Catalogue
Works included in the catalogue
Bibliography
Photographic credits
