The Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) is located in Copenhagen. It is home to Danish art. Its collection includes some 260,000 works, spanning more than seven hundred years from the late Middle Ages to the present day. It has numerous masterpieces by artists such as Albrecht Durer, Peter Paul Rubens, CW Eckersberg and Christen Kobke. Today, the SMK attracts around 450,000 visitors annually. Most of us outside of Scandinavia, are unfamiliar with Nordic pictorial and sculptural traditions. But their paintings do reflect their underlying Nordic cultures, social values on compassion & emotion and finally their natural environment. The Nordic approach is visually less intense and flamboyant as compared with the Italian Baroque or to the French Impressionist. Their approach is more humanistic and much closer to our daily life. Stylistically their 18C and 19C paintings were mostly realism with clarity, sharpness, crispness and on occasion melancholia. It much closer to ordinary persons and our life.

1. Statens Museum for
Kunst
National Gallery of Denmark
First created Jun 2006. Version 3.0 - 28 Feb 2021. Jerry Daperro. London.

2. Nordic
Paintings
Jens Juel (1745-1802) was a
Danish painter primarily known for
his many portraits. He is regarded
as the leading Danish portrait
painting pf the 18th century.
This is a very private painting of
the artist and wife. It remained in
the artist’s home until the widow
sold it to the king of Denmark
about 1820s.
Juel (1745-1802)

3. CW Eckersberg 1813

4. CW Eckersberg 1820
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-
1853) is a well-known Danish painter. His
portraits dominated Danish painting
through the later 19C – the seeming
realism of details coupled with a rigorous
clarity of composition, embedded in
everyday ritual.
He studied under Abildgaard at the
Copenhagen Academy. During 1810-16,
he worked in Paris and then 3 years in
Rome and studied under Jacques Louis
David from 1811-1812. Then went to
Rome via Florence.
He went on to lay the foundation for the
period of art known as the Golden Age
of Danish Painting and is referred to as
the Father of Danish painting.

5. CW Eckersberg 1828
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg was a
very influential Danish painter. He
painted with clarity with sharpness,
which characterised many Nordic
paintings. He taught and reformed the
Academy in Copenhagen. He painted
historical subjects, Neoclassical
portraits with austere compositions and
turned to marine painting including
paintings of ships on the 1820s. He is
also referred to as the Father of Danish
painting.

6. M Rorby 1825
Martinus Rorbye (1805-1848)
was Danish painter known for
genre works and landscapes. He
was a central figure of the
Golden Age of Danish painting
during the first half of the 19C.
His interest was in the light and
surfaces can be seen from the
reflection on the mahogany table
top. The painting also full of
symbolism – an open window, a
bird cage, warships in the dock
beyond the window, plants at
different stage of development
from seedlings to full blossoms.

7. W Bendz 1826
Wilhelm Bendz (1804-1832)
was a Danish painter mainly
known for genre works and
portraits. He was one of the
most talented artists in the
successful generation of
painters who studied under
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg.
Unfortunately, He died early and
has left a relatively small
oeuvre.
This is one of his most well-
known painting in the museum
collection.

8. W Bendz 1830
“The picture held in the man’s
hand – presumably a small
portrait of the older woman’ late
husband -.informs us that close
family ties bind together these
individuals and the image they
look at. We see intimacy
unfolded before our eyes: the
presentable aspects of private
family life as well as glimpses of
the intimate sphere accessed
only by those on the inside.” by
Mikkel Bogh, Director of the SMK
museum.
The painting was by Wilhelm
Bendz (1804-1832).

9. C Hansen c1827
Carl Christian Constantin Hansen
(1804-1880) was one of the
painters associated with the Golden
Age of Danish Painting.
Hansen’s father was a portrait
painter and his god-mother was
Mozart’s wife, Constanze Mozart.
He was bought up in Denmark and
went to the Royal Danish
Academy, where he was trained
by Christoffer Wilhem Eckersberg
in 1828.
When his father died, Constantin
took over several commissions
that belong to his father.

10. JC Dahl 1829

11. JC Dahl 1829
Johan Christian Dahl (1788-1857) was
one of the better known Norwegian
painter, often considered as father of
Norwegian Landscape painter. He lived
and work mainly in Dresden and he was
a friend of the German painter Caspar
David Friedrich, a Romantic Landscape
painter. Dahl became a professor at the
Academy.
His paintings are full of symbolism and
scenes of his Norwegian homeland. On
the painting here the stones surrounded
the tree was an ancient Norwegian
burial site and the two trees representing
an older married couple.

12. W Marstrand 1833
Wilhelm Marstrand (1810-
1873) was a Danish painter of
the Golden Age of Danish
Painting. CW Eckersberg was
a friend of his family. He
painted genre and history
painting.
He was one of the most
renowned artists belonging to
the period. He studied at the
Royal Danish Academy of Art,
Copenhagen, under Christoffer
Wilhelm Eckersberg.
He main interest was depiction
of the daily life he observed
around him in the city’s streets
but later he reached for the
historical painting and
mythology.

13. C Kobke 1832
Another student of the Royal
Academy, Christen Kobke
(1810-48) was an outstanding
painter of portraits,
landscapes, townscapes and
occasional genre scenes.
His mostly calm, luminous,
factual presentation of
unexceptional subjects tends
to hide behind its nationalistic
pride and through the inclusion
of significant symbolic objects.
It is a desire to include moral
meaning in his Romantic
approach.

14. C Kobke 1830s
Christen Kobke (1810-48) was
arguably the greatest painter of
Danish ‘Golden Age’, a period
of artistic achievement. He had
the remarkable ability to invest
the simplest corner of town or
countryside with charm and
delicacy and endowed ordinary
people and places.
He is recognized internationally
for his well composed and
harmonic paintings, for their
coloristic qualities and for his
sense of the everyday life. But
in his lifetime he was almost
forgotten, especially because
of his early death and limited
works.

15. C Kobke 1835

16. C Kobke 1843

17. Sordring (1809-62)

18. AW Boesen 1848

19. Carl Block (1834-90) studied with
Wilhelm Marstrand at the Royal
Academy of Art. He travelled to the
Netherlands where he became
acquainted with the works of
Rembrandt. He also studied in Italy.
His early works included rural genre
subjects and later developed his
historical style.
C Bloch 1863
He is regarded by many as the
greatest artist ever to interpret the life
of Christ. He also spent time in Rome
and inspired by the Old Italian
masters.

20. C Bloch 1863

21. H Jerichau 1878

22. Michael Ancher 1882
“Michael Ancher
(1849-1927) was a
Danish realist artist.
He is remembered
above all for his
paintings of fishermen
and other scenes from
the Danish fishing
community in Skagen”
Wikipedia.
He married Anna
Ancher (1859-1935),
who was also a painter
in her own right.

23. Michael Ancher 1883

24. Anna Ancher 1891
The painting depicted
a funeral. It is an
unusual setting for a
painting but Skagen
was a small fishing
village.
Anna Ancher (1859-
1935) was married to
Michael Ancher, who
was also a painter.

25. Anna Ancher 1891
Anna Ancher nee Brondum (1859-
1935) was a one of Denmark’s
greatest visual artist. She was a
colourist and a character painter.
An example of this was her
painting of an old man ‘Lars
Gaihede Whittling a Stick’’.
Lars Gaihede Whittling a Stick by Anna
Ancher’
She was associated with the
Skagen Painters, an artist colony
on the northern point of Jutland,
Denmark, She is considered to be
one of Denmark’s greatest visual
artists.

26. PS Kroyer 1879
Peder Severin Kroyer was of the best known and loved painter of his colourful paintings. He was also belong to Skagen group
of painters, a community of Danish and Nordic artists, including Michael and Anna Ancher.

27. PS Kroyer 1883

28. Eric Henningsen (1855-1930) was a Danish
painter and illustrator. He was best known
for his Social Realist paintings of poor and
exposed group in the 1880s. He was
preoccupied with the rights and living
conditions of unemployed, women,
workers, children and the elderly.
Erik Henningsen 1888
In 1873 he was admitted to the Royal
Danish Academy of the Arts. He won many
awards before he was graduation. In 1892
won a travel scholarship. His travels took
him to Germany, Italy France and the
Netherlands.
He belonged to a group, called
Bogstaveligheden, which is a forum for the
Realists humanitarian ideals about creating
a better society through illumination and
debate.

29. Erik Henningsen 1888

30. Erik Henningsen 1888

31. Erik Henningsen 1888

32. Erik Henningsen 1888

33. LA Ring 1897
Laurits Andersen Ring (1854-1933)
painted his wife in pregnancy, with
the promise of spring acting as a
symbol of the consummation of
love. With so much new found
happiness, hope and flowering
plant a contrast to the last painting
of death.
This is also a new woman toward
independent, quietly confident and
composed, a liberated woman
different to the woman of the
Romantic era.

34. LA Ring 1894
LA Ring (1854-1933)
painted this after a visit
to the catacombs in
Palermo convent.
These were the
mummified corpses of
the monks at different
ages. The last burial
still had hair and beard
on the corpse. In the
painting L A showed us
that in death we will
find nothing except the
almost comical
remains of bodies that
was once alive.
L A Ring was a pioneer
in symbolism and
social realism in
Denmark.

35. LA Ring 1908
The house of the old woman
Ane was prepared for spring by
Per Nilen. The building was
crooked with age and wear. It is
a glimpse of everyday life. The
abruptly cropped cutting off the
window and Ane’s face together
with the realistic details
contribute to the sense of
looking at a piece of everyday
life.
The painting was painted by
Laurits Andersen Ring (1854-
1933), with his tried and test
composition.

36. P Hansen 1901

37. CJ Bonnesen 1902

38. CJ Bonnesen 1902

39. CJ Bonnesen 1902

40. Edvard Eriksen (1876-1959)
was a wood carver, before
joining the Academy of Fine Art.
Later in life he also taught in the
Academy.
E Eriksen 1904
This is his more well-know statue, The
Little Mermaid.

41. E Eriksen 1904

42. Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-
1958) was associated with the
Symbolism and Expressionism
movements. He lived mostly in
France. Besides painting, he had
interests in sculpture, architecture,
ceramics and photography and
was an accomplished engraver.
J Willumsen 1912
Willumsen was associated with
Skagen and he travelled widely
over Europe.

43. Jan van Scorel (1495-1562) played a
leading role in introducing Italian
Renaissance painting into Dutch and
Flemish Renaissance. He spent a
number of years in Italy.
Other
European
Paintings
Jan Scorel

44. Erhard Altdorfer 1530-35
Erhard Altdorfer (1480-1561) was a
German printmaker, painter and
architect, who worked as a court painter
in Schwerin. He was also the younger
brother of Albrecht Altdorfer.
“It was assumed Erhard Altdorfer worked
in Austria at the Lambach Abbey, and in
St Florian and Klosterneuburg around
1510. In 1512 he went to Schwerin
where Duke Henry V appointed him
court painter and architect. Durin a trip
with the duke that year he probably
came in contact with Lucas Cranach the
Elder.” Wikipedia.

45. M van Roymerswaele 1540

46. Lucas Cranach the Elder 1550
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) a
German painter and printmaker and a
friend of Martin Luther, who founded the
Protestant Reformation. He also work
as a court painter to the Electors of
Saxony. He was a portraitist and
continued throughout his career to paint
nude subject drawn from mythology and
religion.
Cranach was also invented the
chiaroscuro woodcut in 1507. Although
his family was Sunder or Muller, he is
called after his birthplace of Kronach
near Bamberg, where he was probably
trained by his father Hans.

47. P Bruegel the Elder 1526

48. J Bassano c1550
Jacopo Bassano (c1510-
1592) an Italian painter
who painted mostly
religious subjects,
including landscape and
genre scenes. He was
from a family of painters
of the Venetian school.
He was one of the most
influential painters in the
Veneto apart from Titian.

49. Bloemaert (1566-1651)

50. Jordaens (1593-1678)

51. Rubens c1617

52. Rubens c1624
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
was a Flemish Baroque painter,
who successfully to rival the
Italians. He painted many large
scale altarpieces, murals and
ceilings, but always in oil. He
was also a brilliant colourist par
excellence. His paintings are
intensely visual and uniquely
affirmative of the joys of life.
Rubens came from Antwerp. He
was more than just a painter. He
also undertook diplomatic
missions on behalf of the Duchy
of Brabant to Spain and to
England.
Rubens was the greatest
Italianate Flemish painter and
the greatest exponent of the
Baroque style.

53. Hobbema c1624

54. Gijsbrechts 1670
Cornelis Norbertus
Gysbrechts (c1610-
c1675) was a Flemish
painter. He worked in
Belgium, Germany,
Denmark and Sweden,
specialised in trompe-
l’oeil, an artistic genre
aiming to trick viewers
into believing that the
painted, 2D illusions
were real 3D object.

55. Ruisdael 1670-1680
Jacob van Ruisdael (1632-1682)
was a Dutch painter, draughtsman
and etcher. He is generally
considered to be the greastest
landscape painter of the Dutch
Golden Age.
He exerted a huge influence on the
development of European
landscape painting in the 19th
century. In his own day, he was less
popular than Italianate painter such
as Berchem.
He was born in Haarlem, where the
realist landscape was first
developedin the early 17C.

56. Steen 1671

57. Matisse 1918
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was the
principal artist of the Fauve group.
As a student he copied in the
Louvre and was strongly influenced
by the Impressionist. He also
worked closely with Bonnard and
Vuillard.
He tried the Diversionist technique
about 1899 but turn to Cezanne by
1901-03 painting strongly modelled
form in dark tone to offset Signac
bright colours.

58. All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective owners.
Available free for non-commercial and personal use.
Music – La Reine De Saba (label Emporio)
The
End

59. 19C Painters

60. With over a thousand of paintings in more than 10 countries.