TREASURES

FROM
DANISH MUSEUMS
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010

http://www.archive.org/details/treasuresfromdanOObram
 TREASURES
FROM
DANISH MUSEUMS
 Published by

THE PRESS DEPARTMENT OF THE MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

/ association with

The State Museum of Art, The National Museum, The

National Historical Museum at Frederiksborg, The

Chronological Collection of the Danish Kings at Rosen-

borg, The Royal Library, Thorvaldsen's Museum, The
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, The Hirschsprung Collection,
The Danish Museum The Town
of Decorative Art,
Museum, "The Old Town", Arhus, The Hans Christian
Andersen Museum, Odense

Editorial Committee
JOHANNES BR0NDSTED. SIGVALD KRISTENSEN
JORN RUBOW, ERIK ZAHLE

Edited by
HENRIK BRAMSEN

Printed in Denmark by J. H. Schultz A/S Universitetsbogtrykkeri, Copenhagen

Blocks by Bernhard Middelboes Reproduktionsanstalt
 FOREWORD
The Danish people have taken a deep interest in preserving the treasures
of the past. Royal and private collections have passed into public owner-
ship and have formed the nucleus of important museums. Considerable
private and public funds are available for extensions and research con-
nected with them. Other countries may have museums that are bigger
and richer, but those in Denmark are both extensive and varied, affording
ample scope for visitors who wish to see many
and many different
exhibits and others who prefer to concentrate on a single study or even a
single work.
Danish museums are especially rich in Greek and Roman art. Central
Asian and Eskimo civilizations, Netherlands art of the seventeenth century,
nineteenth-century and twentieth-century French art, Danish prehistory
and Danish art in all its manifestations.
The treasures presented in this book have been chosen among the best
in Danish museums. Not all the best have been included, nor has every
museum or branch of art been treated equally; plenty of scope has been
left for discovery. The selection has been made in the way that a visitor
might conceivably build up a collection for himself, a collection which
he
unburdened by learning and system
could really get to know,
and which would speak to him of the manifold peoples of the earth.

Julius Bomholt
Minister of Education
PALACE IN THE CITY
The most distinguished Danish museum is Rosenborg Palace, the building
an integral part of the whole. The castle was erected between
itself forming

1606 and 1634 by Christian IV, who wanted an informal Royal residence.
At that time it stood outside the city walls, now it is well inside the city,

but it has retained its old serenity, screened by a park where between tall

trees one gets distant glimpses of its red brick walls. A long and rather
narrow building in three storeys, Rosenborg has a dignified grace enhanced
by towers and slender spires. The warm-toned walls, curved gables, and
sandstone ornaments add to the friendly air of the facade. There has been
practically no alterations or additions to obscure the original design.
Also the original splendour and dignity of the interior have been
retained. Severalrooms on the ground floor remain exactly as they were
when Christian IV lived there. Most noteworthy among them is the
King's study with its heavy furnishings and panelling with inserted land-
scape paintings by Flemish masters. Others were carefully redecorated
and refurnished in the first half of the eighteenth century so as to preserve

their regal splendour. The castle has not been lived in for nearly 200
years, but it has been cherished by the Danish kings as a monument of
their ancestors. The large number of treasures in the comparatively small
rooms give them an atmosphere saturated with history; there must be
few places where the past is felt so near. Other castles may be bigger and
more sumptuously furnished, but there are few where the royal pomp is
also human in scale. The banqueting hall occupies the whole top storey,
but even that radiates, by its proportions, decoration, furnishing, and
lighting, a friendly dignity faithfully watched over by three imposing
silver lions before the throne of narwhal tooth and ivory.

Rosenborg Palace, Copenhagen: the Banqueting Hall.

--^m^
*<^
I
\
CROWN JEWELS
Rosenborg can be compared to a casket brim-full with jewels. The
building is remarkable for being, in exterior and interior decoration,
a work of art in itself and for displaying its exhibits in their original and
historical environment. By great good luck the collections have retained
their characterand composition unchanged for more than 200 years, and
the building and its contents are thus a living testimony to historical
continuity. The character of a royal residence and collections will be
perpetuated. Here modern exhibition principles are irrelevant: historical
curiosities will continue to be kept alongside the finest treasures. The
collections consist of rare and costly treasures brought together by Danish
kings, with personal relics of them and their families. They include magni-
ficent pictures, furnitures and fittings, royal robes, and a wealth of precious

stones, glassware, china, oriental fabrics, and works of art made from
gold and silver, ivory, and enamel.
The principal attraction is the Crown Jewels. On display in a well-
protected show-case are the royal crowns, the sword of the realm, the orb,
and the and various vessels
sceptre. Besides there are coronets, trinkets,
still used on State occasions. Surpassing every other ornament in splendour

is the crown of Christian IV, which was first used in 1596 when the young

king rode from the Cathedral to the Castle of Copenhagen after his coro-
nation. It is an intricate network of gold ornaments and small symbolic
figures in enamel, studded with a profusion of pearls and precious stones.

Crown of King Christian IV, at Rosenborg Palace, Copenhagen.

CASTLE IN THE WOODS
The fertile district of North Zealand was chosen for the site of several
castles,two of which command particular interest. One of these is Kron-
borg, the importance of which, however, was its strategic position on the
Sound at Elsinore. The castle guarded at its narrowest point the channel
leading to and from the Baltic and collected from foreign ships the toll
that for centuries was an important source of royal revenue. Its fine
architecture, its picturesque situation close to the sea and surrounded by
the old fortifications possess great charm. Its interiors include a maritime
museum and a tasteful arrangement of paintings and furniture contem-
porary with the building.
The other castle is Frederiksborg, which stands in a delightful inland
setting amid some of the biggest forests in the country. The main structure
was built on drained ground in a lake with a fortified zig-zag road leading
to it. From a distance, with its delicate spires, the castle seems light and
airy, but close up an imposing building with massive red walls de-
it is

corated with sandstone ornaments. Nearly lOO years ago the interior was
heavily damaged by fire, and only the church and the wing containing
what is known as the audience chamber were saved. The damage to the
castle was felt as a national disaster, and a combined effort was made to

restore With the help of a magnificent private donation the effort

it.

succeeded, and at the same time a museum was founded in the castle to
illustrate national political and cultural history. The museum is very

popular, reviving memories of national history like an open picture-book.

Frederiksborg Castle: view from Inner Courtyard looking towards the Gate Tower.

8
AMBER
The beautiful flint toolsand weapons of The National Museum's pre-
historic Danish department have a permanent appeal to young and old;
its lurs, helmets, trinkets, and weapons of various kinds interest in their

different ways all types of visitors. National sentiment, a sense of the

mystery of the dim and distant past, aesthetic delight, an eye for crafts-
manship, and a general interest in weapons explain the continued
popularity of the Danish antiquities. Most people are captivated by the
amber, of which the National Museum has a fine display dating from the
Stone Age, suspended in an effective arrangement of heavy chains and
illuminated to set off" its beauty. It is delectable to look at; handsome
when polished but perhaps handsomer still in the natural state with the
translucent material just sensed behind its rough surface. Shape and colour
vary from piece to piece.
The amber beads in the National Museum are prehistoric. Some are
from graves of men and women and will have been worn as trinkets or
sewn on to dresses; others were found in bogs, either singly or collectively
in clay vessels. Many of the finds were so large that they must have
constituted stores or hidden treasures. In some cases the amber was
doubtless deposited in the bog as a sacrifice to the gods.
Amber occured along the Danish shores in large quantities, especially
in northern Jutland. It was widely used in the Stone Age for trinkets,
Denmark being poor in metals. Finds of Bronze Age amber, however,
have been few. Not that interest inon the contrary, it was
it was lost;

probably one of the country's principal barter commodities and a means

of procuring gold and bronze.

Amber Beads, c. 2000 B. C. National Museum, Copenhagen. Department of Danish Antiquities.

ID
tI5??'^<^
THE SUN CHARIOT
The National Museum's department of Danish antiquities contains many-
rare treasures, including beautifully fashioned flint implements and amber
trinketsfrom the Stone Age, the remarkable Bronze Age wind instruments
known as lurs. Bronze Age horned helmets, and many more relics of
these and other periods. Most of the objects were recovered from bogs and
graves.
The finest of prehistoric objects which have come to light in Denmark
is Sun Chariot. This is about three feet long and consists of
the bronze
an under-carriage and the remains of six wheels, a horse, and a disk.
The horse's body is slender, the head is long and narrow and half orna-
mental in conception. The disk's size proclaims it as the most important
feature of the whole. It is covered with gold-leaf richly engraved with
decorations which date the Sun Chariot at about 1200 B.C. There can
be little doubt that the disk is meant to represent the sun and that the
chariot was used in connection with sun-worship, which is known to have
been practised in Scandinavia at the time. Of this there are many indi-
cations, though none so clear as the Sun Chariot itself, which is thus a
survival of great historic importance. Few images of gods furnish more
direct evidence of the culture associated with them. We can imagine the
chariot being carried in procession on holy days, with the sun's rays
reflected in the disk of burnished gold. We can go further and visualize
the chariot as a small-scale copy of a large disk borne on a real chariot
and harnessed to a real horse.

The Sun Chariot; c. 1200 B.C. National Museum, Department of Danish Antiquities.

12
HELMETS AND HORNS
During the Second World War the Danes were obliged to turn to local

peat bogs for their fuel. In doing so they unearthed many prehistoric
remains, for the bogs were once sacred places where offerings were made
to the gods. The Sun Chariot was one such offering, as was the most
important prehistoric bog find during the war two horned helmets of
bronze found near Copenhagen. The helmets had clearly been put there,
one of them on a wooden board, and the other in a clay bowl. Only a
powerful religious cult can have induced the ancients to sacrifice such
well-made, useful, and no doubt costly articles. They seem, moreover, to

have been sacrificed while quite new. The two halves are riveted together
and dents have been hammered out from the inside. Affixed to each
helmet are two rather large cast hemispheres, clearly intended to represent
eyes, with pieces of metal soldered on above them for eyebrows. The eyes
have a diabolic intensity,and must have been even more effective if, as
seems likely, the eyeballs and pupils were painted. Between the eyes is a
hook rather like an owl's beak and meant for a nose. Running over the
top of the head in continuation of this beak is a comb, with a socket on
either side. Sockets and comb were doubtless designed to hold either hair
or feathers. Surmounting the whole is a pair of curved horns terminating
in two knobs. If we imagine the helmet burnished or painted and complete

with feathers we shall have a very good impression of an important

constituent of a terrifying prehistoric war dress.
These were the first of such helmets to be found in Europe, though they
have been known to us from Scandinavian rock carvings and from a bronze
statuette in the National Museum in Copenhagen. They are unlikely to

have been made within the limits of present-day Denmark and were
doubtless imported from the south.

Horned Helmets found at Vikso, Zealand; c. 700 B. C. National Museum, Copenhagen.

14
HIPPOPOTAMUS
The Egyptian Hippopotamus is a comparative newcomer to Danish muse-
ums, having been acquired by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek as recently
as in 1933. But in this short space of time become one of the country's
it has
most popular works of art, holding undoubted leadership in the Glypto-
tek's excellent collection of Egyptian antiquities on account of its jovial
bulk and venerable age. It its thought to be at least 5,000 years old.
About 15 inches long, it is carved in a handsome, reddish-brown stone
which recalls alabaster. Colour and material are brought out by polishing,
the striped stone giving a vigour and vitality to the surface. The body is

comparatively small and conceived in general outline only, but the head
which is largeand impressive-looking, has received more thorough
attention. The upper part of the head with the ears, the eyes, and the
the part of the animal that
nostrils is seen when it is in its rightful

element has been observed with a fine sense of the characteristic and the
monumental. The rest seems to have been conceived in rather vague terms
of fatness of body and shortness of legs. Other characteristic features which
have been caught by the artist are and the
the long, smooth upper lip
great slit-like mouth reaching almost from ear to ear. The Hippopotamus
appeals to a modern eye chiefly by its jollity, suggested by its apparently
smiling mouth and great, friendly bulk. We know nothing of the meaning
which it had for its contemporaries. It comes, perhaps, from Abydos,
possibly from a tomb.
The collection of Egyptian antiquities in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is

one of the best on the Continent, giving a representative survey of 6,000

years of Egyptian art from the earliest times to the age of the Romans. It

differs from other collections in concentrating on the artistic aspect rather

than on the archaeological and historical and in emphasizing the quality
of individual works in preference to representing types.

Hippopotamus from Egypt; c. 3000 B. C. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

16
CLASSICAL ANTIQ^UITY
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek was founded in the nineteenth century with

a generous donation by the brewer Carl Jacobsen. This large museum,

embracing several departments, possesses excellent collections of nine-
teenth-century French paintings and sculpture and of Egyptian anti-
quities. There is also a fine display of Danish paintings and sculpture of

the nineteenth century. But the greater part of the museum is devoted
to Greek and Roman sculpture which fully illustrates the development
from the sixth century to the break-up of the Roman Empire. The com-
prehensive range of Roman busts will bear comparison with the world's best.
From the New Carlsberg Glyptotek's Antique Collection we have selec-

ted for reproduction a Bronze Head of a Young Man. This may be an

idealized portrait of a member of the Emperor Augustus's family. Part
of a statue, it was found at Megara. The head is extraordinarily well
preserved, the copper eyelashes and white marble eyeballs being intact,
though the pupils have been lost. With age the head has acquired a fine
green patina. The facial expression is extremely lifelike, the glance as
though directed at some distant point, the nostrils dilated, the mouth on
the point of opening. The perpetual liveliness of the face and the turn
of the head have heroic qualities. The modelling is fresh and broad with
no unessential detail.

There are also outstanding classical antiquities in the former Royal

Collection, which is a department of the National Museum. Principally
but not exclusively devoted to the minor arts, it includes a large and
representative collection of Greek vases.

Greek Bronze Head from Megara. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen,

i8
THE RAIN GOD
The Ethnographical Department of the National Museum in Copenhagen
is the oldest museum of its kind in the world, and one of the biggest. Every

civilization in the world is represented. The magnificent collections of

objects from the Eskimo civilizations are outstanding, but Central Asia
and India too are splendidly represented. Many interesting objects of this
museum have been in Danish Royal ownership since the seventeenth
century.
Among the rarest treasures in Danish Museums is the AztecRain God,
Tlaloc. Out Mexican turquoise mosaic works in
of about 40 European and

American museums, two are in Copenhagen this and a figure represent-
ing the god Quetzalcoatl, "The Plumed Serpent". The two specimens
show certain signs of decay, but the Rain God is complete in all essentials
and its richness of colour and material is striking. The wooden body is
covered with a mosaic of turquoise interspersed with mother-of-pearl and
red and white mussel shell. The pattern has been wrought with consum-
mate art and skilful employment of varying shapes, colours, and sizes.
The contrasting colours, the splendid material, the setting of the eyes,
the wide mouth, the ear-pendants all combine to produce a remarkable
double effect of cruelty and beauty.
The two Aztec mosaic works Copenhagen were acquired
in in the
middle of the nineteenth century. Beyond this we have no certain
knowledge of their history, but probably they were part of the treasure
sent in 15 19 by the Aztec ruler Moctezuma to the Emperor Charles V
through Cortes, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico. The description of this
treasure refers to a wooden mask which must have borne a strong resemb-
lance to the Rain God in Copenhagen. Charles V maintained close connec-
tions with courts all over Europe, and it is well known that he was lavish
in distributing his gifts from the New World, as tokens of friendship and as

propaganda for his empire.

The Aztec Rain God Tlaloc. National Museum, Copenhagen. Ethnographical Department.

20
THE ROYAL LIBRARY
Among Denmark's leading collections we may Royal fairly include the

Library. Its nucleus was formed by books and manuscripts assembled by

King Frederik III about the middle of the seventeenth century. It has
been growing rapidly ever since and is now, with over a million printed
books, the largest library in the Scandinavian countries. It contains an
almost complete set of Danish literature from its beginnings and it is the
principal library for humanist studies. It also comprises a fine selection of
historically interesting publications, including about 5,000 incunabula; that is,
early books. Notable also are the unique set of Jewish literatureand the
important ancient Icelandic manuscripts, the latter including the famous
Flato Book which gives an account of the discovery of America 500 years
before Columbus. The manuscript department possesses 45,000 volumes,
including the papers of Hans Christian Andersen and Soren Kierkegaard,
a famous collection of Avesta manuscripts, Pali manuscripts, Mongolian
and Tibetan manuscripts, and a large number of illuminated medieval
manuscripts.
The last-named include the book of hours from which the picture on
the opposite page was taken. It was produced in the workshop of the
French painter Jean Fouquet at Tours in the second half of the fifteenth
century and is probably by the master himself. The text and profuse
flower ornaments typical of the period take up the larger part of the

page. Most charming is the initial which reveals, like a peep through a
keyhole, a picture of a medieval procession. The soft evening light and the
figures in their long cloaks contribute to the impression of quiet dignity.

Book of Hours, late fifteenth century. Probably by Jean Fouquet. Royal Library, Copenhagen.

22
 mm

mi luiti*

m0i
T^
rl

r??

'0 < ^i,"

'^;^^^v-=<?^s??^3 *jffe^;?^V^-;ji-^\.;i(-- --^-,-^r-x^-^M^-^-"'''

A FLANDERS TAPESTRY
The Museum of Decorative Arts (Kunstindustrimuseet) in Copenhagen
covers a wide range of countries, periods, and types. It has a fine East
Asiatic collection, a large display of furniture ranging from the Middle
Ages to the present day, silver, glassware, pottery, china, bookbindings,
textiles, books, posters, etc. It also has a large library devoted to the

decorative arts.

Some of the exhibits are grouped round a few important works specially
purchased for their artistic skill and craftsmanship. Notable among these
is a tapestry in wool and silk, woven at Tournai about 1475. The illu-
stration opposite shows only part of this tapestry of many figures, but
sufficient to indicate its fine workmanship, excellent state of preservation,

and admirable characterization. It is part of a court scene. The squire,

wearing a red hat and a fur-trimmed richly patterned cloak, is seated
in judgment outside his manor. Three men, of whom one at least is a bailiff'
or law officer, are standing behind him. The bailiff' is holding a mace,
and embroidered on his sleeve are the word Pais and a hand. To the right
(not visible in the illustration) there crowd of vividly portrayed peas-
is a
ants, some respectfully approaching the magistrate, others gathered round

an official who seems to be reading some sort of proclamation. The whole

scene is so dramatic that we suspect it to be an illustration of a story or
historical event. So far, however, the picture remains unexplained.
Another museum of the decorative arts in Copenhagen, also open to
the public, is the C. L. David Collection, which has the best Scandinavian
display of Islamic ceramics later than c. 1000 A.D. Apart from this its
European decorative art of the
principal attractions are objects of eigh-
teenth century, French ceramics, Danish silver, and furniture.

Detail of Woven Tapestry from Tournai, c. 1475. Museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhagen.

24
OLD MASTERS
During the centuries, a considerable number of foreign paintings have
been imported into Denmark, and many have remained here. There are
fine old paintings in many country houses; some of the country houses

such as Nivagard, (now public property, situated 12 miles north of Copen-

hagen) are open to the public. The largest of all the collections is the
Royal Collection, the bulk of which is permanently displayed in the
State Museum of Art in Copenhagen. It is continually growing and
valuable additions have been made to it during the last few decades.
A fine representative selection of old Italian, French, and German art

includes works by Mantegna, Titian, Dutch

and Tintoretto. But it is the
and Flemish works which form the most comprehensive section. There
are some admirable Dutch landscapes, a fine selection of Rembrandts,
and excellent pictures by Frans Hals, Jacob Jordaens, Philips Koninck,
and Rubens. Outstanding among the works by Rubens is the portrait
of the Abbot Yrsselius, originally in a monastery church at Antwerp.
Rubens can hardly ever have reached greater heights as a portrait pain-
ter than he did in this work. It is a moving portrayal of a frail old

man. The rendering of the tortured face and wrinkled hands is masterly,
and the pathos is enchanced by splendid colour treatment. The hands
are set against the white cloak which stands out against a red background
and golden symbols of office. The impression of monumental grandeur
which the painting conveys, is heightened by the heavy folds of the cloak.
Besides the Old Masters, the State Museum of Art houses a comprehensive
collection of Danish paintings and sculpture, and also the Royal Print
Room, which contains a large number of drawings and engravings. Espec-
ially noteworthy among these are some fine Diirer prints, probably those
which the artist is known to have presented personally to a Danish king,
and a admirable collection of modern French graphic art.

Rubens's portrait of the Abbot ^'rsselius. State Museum of Art, Copenhagen.

26
ROYAL COPENHAGEN
The support of national industries was a vital interest in Denmark and
throughout Europe in the eighteenth century. One of the products was
porcelain, a recent discovery in Europe, which was being made at world-
famous porcelain factories. Not to be outdone, Denmark founded the Royal
Porcelain Factory in Copenhagen, which was a Government establish-
ment for a hundred years until, in 1868, it passed into private ownership.
The objects illustrated were made at the Royal Porcelain Factory in
the 1780S. One is a dinner-holder in four parts: a dish, a large container
with a small one inside, and a The large container is for hot water
lid.

or ice, the small one for food. They are decorated with a floral pattern
edged with gold. The bottom picture shows a tureen made at the same
factory at about thesame time, possibly a little later. This is beautifully
decorated with a coloured floral pattern framed in green and purple.
These pieces form part of the comprehensive collection of porcelain in
the Museum of Decorative Arts, where, of course. Royal Copenhagen
Porcelain is especially well represented. The museum also contains speci-
mens of many other decorative arts and crafts both new and old. It was
founded at the end of the nineteenth century to collect decorative art
which could serve as a model for contemporary applied art, but the
original object gradually yielded to a desire to build up a collection of
objects of the highest standard of art and craftsmanship.
The building is worth seeing for itself. Built in the middle of the eigh-
teenth century, it was converted into a museum in the present century,
its original architectural character being fully preserved. The low wings
enclose a large, grass-covered courtyard which forms a peaceful retreat
from the noise and bustle of busy streets in the city centre.

Dinner-holder and Tureen; Royal Porcelain Factory. Museum of Dccorati\'e Arts, Copenhagen.

28
GRACES
Bertel Thorvaldsen reached the summit of his fame during his hfe-time.
Artists and clients from everywhere came to visit him in his studios in
Rome. Yet he remained as simple and unassuming as when he first went
out into the world a young scholarship-holder from the Danish Academy
of Art. He also remained deeply attached to his native country and his
fellow-countrymen. In his old age he returned to spend the last of his
days in Denmark, bringing with him the models of all his famous works,
together with his rather extensive collection of antiquities and paintings.
This he presented to the city of Copenhagen in return for an assurance
that a worthy building would be found to hold them. To further this
object the King made available a building adjacent to Christiansborg
Palace to be transformed for the purpose. In order that the museum should
not be overpowered by the size of the palace, the architect gave it a
strong west front with five colossal doorways, and he designed walls with
strong colours to contrast with the grey palace walls. At last he surrounded
the whole building with a frieze depicting the sculptor's festive reception.
All this was rather novel in those days. The colours have, however, since
faded, and a thorough restoration is in progress.

The inside walls are strongly coloured and the vaulted ceilings are

decorated in Pompeian manner. Thorvaldsen's works are displayed singly in

small rooms or grouped together in the larger rooms and in the broad corr-
idors. Upstairs are his collections of antiquities and paintings, his medals,
and his furniture. The museum is built round a courtyard, the walls of
which are decorated with palm-trees. In the centre is Thorvaldsen's tomb.
The artist's models are occasionally replaced with the respective works
in marble. Thus, recently, the museum acquired a fine specimen of "The
Three Graces", one of Thorvaldsen's most popular works, characteristic
in the skilful handling of the marble, and its winsome grace.

The Three Graces, by Bertel Thor\-aldsen; modelled 1817 19, carved in marble about 1822.

30
DOMESTICITY
The domestic scene occupies a prominent place in Danish painting of the
first third of the nineteenth century. Not that this is anything unusual for
European painting of the period, but in Denmark it almost reigns supreme.
Great emotions were never allowed to project strong contrasts of light
and shade into this art.
The best painters of the 1820s and 1830s formed a small group who
lived in Copenhagen. Their ties with their city were very close and they
rarely ventured so far beyond the green ramparts that they could not get
back in time for dinner. They painted their nearest environment, their

friends and relations, their rooms, and scenes in the immediate vicinity
of the city. These painters are highly thought of in Denmark. They recall

a time when lifewas slower and the sky seemed perpetually cloudless.
But their art was subtle and by no means naive. It rested on a firm local
tradition and a conscientious cultivation of refined colour.
The portrait illustrated is in the Hirschsprung Collection in Copen-
hagen, which is confined to nineteenth century Danish art. It was painted
by one of these Copenhagen painters and shows a friend, another painter,

who is seen in his shirt-sleeves smiling pleasantly at the spectator. The

picture is remarkable for the nonchalant arrangement of the mirror, the
prints on the door etc., combined with
but the apparent casualness is

strict and subtle colouring in which there is a pronounced contrast between

the warm colours of the face, the hands, and the mahogany furniture, and
the cold ones of the door and the shirt-sleeves. The transition is softened
by the plan-pot and the ivy, the green of which is toned to grey. A more
vigorous note is sounded by the black collar, and the final point is made
by the red case on the table.

Portrait of a painter by Christen Kobke, 1832. The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen.

32
I
PEASANTS AND FISHERMEN
In suburban surroundings to the north of Copenhagen is the open-air
museum called Frilandsmuseet. It is reached from the city centre, by bus
or electric train to Sorgenfri Station, in less than half an hour, and in
this short journey the visitor is transported, as it were, centuries back in
time and hundreds of miles away in space. The museum is a national
collection of old houses from the countryside. In large and beautifully
planted grounds stand original houses of different periods and from various
parts of Denmark and former Danish Sweden and
territory in southern

South Slesvig. All have been saved from demolition during the years and
re-erected with careful attention to every detail, and each is complete
with old furniture, implements, and fittings, thus giving a clear impression
of domestic arrangements and economic life in the countryside in the past.
The buildings are arranged in geographical order, the park having a
landscape design which varies in character to match the locality of the
various buildings. The houses have also been carefully chosen so as to
display each district's special style, manner of building, and arrangement
of dwellings and outbuildings, and an attempt has been made to show
the development from primitive to advanced building forms. Many of
the house are handsome and full of character, and indeed are important
architectural monuments in their own right. The furnishings are the origi-
nal ones, and they display a fine selection of furniture forms and decora-
tions, from the simple to the richly carved or gaily painted. There are
specimens of ceramics and other forms of folk art extinct in Denmark since
the nineteenth century. Incidentally, there is large collection of folk art in
the National Museum in Copenhagen, where it forms a special department.
Specially characteristic of sea-girt Denmark is the group of fishermen's
and boatmen's cottages in the museum. Many of the rooms here are
embellished with souvenirs from foreign shores. From time to time features
of old-fashioned folk life are re-created through displays of folk dances
and of old customs, handicrafts, or domestic crafts.

Interior of an old farm, Frilandsmuseet near Copenhagen.

34
ANDERSEN'S TOWN
"Perhaps", wrote Hans Andersen in 1837, "I may live to see in the
geography book: Odense; the poet Andersen was born here."
Odense, a lively commercial centre, is Denmark's third
and the city

capital of the fertile island of Funen (Fyn). Here Hans Andersen was
born in 1805 and here he spent his childhood until he left to seek his
fortune in the Copenhagen theatre in 181 9. He was brought up in very

poor circumstances, the recollection of which plays a big part in his

writings. It also accounts for his special pleasure on being given the
freedom of his native town and at his princely reception there, an honour
which he acknowledged by establishing a foundation for "the poorest
boy in the town".
Ahundred years after the fairy-tale writer's birth his childhood home
was acquired by the City of Odense and a museum was established in the
cramped rooms. From far and near it collected his personal effects his
original manuscripts and letters, his furniture and clothes, paintings
owned by him, portraits of him, a collection of his own drawings, and the
silhouettes of which he was a master. In these with paper and scissors, he
gave rein to the imagination characteristic of his stories.

The rapid expansion of the collection made it necessary later on to extend

the museum. A large building was erected adjoining the childhood home.
This building has a circular memorial hall decorated by Niels Larsen
Stevns with frescoes illustrating scenes in the author's life as described in

his autobiography.
Hans Andersen Museum, Odense has a museum of pictorial
Besides the
art and antiquities and a museum of rural buildings from Funen called
The Funen Village (Den fynske Landsby). Many of Hans Andersen's scenic
descriptions are based on recollections of his childhood and thus are local
in character. The prototypes can be found in the Funen Village.

Silhouette by Hans Andersen. Hans Andersen Museum, Odense.

36
THE OLD TOWN
In Denmark as in other countries a number of towns which used to be
centres of busthng activity have in recent centuries dechned into a grace-
ful and placid old age; places like Ribe, ^Eroskobing, and ^beltoft, to
name only a few. In other towns industrial and technical advance, in the
course of the past century, has wrought radical changes; in some of these
towns the hand of progress has been needlessly rough.
Still, interest in former times and customs has been and means lively,

have been found to save many threatened buildings by gathering them

together to form museums. One of these, the Frilandsmuseum near Copen-
hagen is made up of rural houses; another at Arhus has specialized in
town houses. Known as The Old Town (Den gamle By), it was founded
about thirty years ago, and has gone on growing ever since. The museum
has been instrumental in saving from destruction valuable urban houses
which have been removed from their original sites and re-erected with
scrupulous regard for historical accuracy of every detail. With their
furnishings and fittings they vividly portray building styles and habits in
Danish towns from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century.
Houses furnished in contemporary styles stand side by side with the shops
and workshops of the hatter, the tanner, the weaver, the dyer, the turner,
the tobacconist, the brewer, the distiller, the cooper, the rope-maker,
the chandler,and others, complete with finished and half-finished goods
and tools worn by use. Education is represented by an old school, over
the door of which an inscription renders the pompous and patriarchal
words of the royal patron:

Fifty years, O God, hast Thou warded off sickness, pestilence and war;
And for this I thank Thee and build schools for the poor.

Lord, look graciously on this work.

That it may endure till the end of time.
Grant that on my throne there be always one of my line
Inspired by the right attitude to Thee and to these schools.

From the Old Town (Den gamle By), Arhus.

38
MADEMOISELLE
"Mademoiselle Lemonnier" by Edouard Manet can be compared to Ru-
bens's painting of the abbot; both are masterly portraits firm in their
posing and simple in line. But where Rubens's picture is ecclesiastical

Manet's is secular; it is as plain and straightforward in its psychology as

the other is deep and detailed. Rubens's portrait is a classic portrayal of
age and introspection; that by Manet an equally classic record of youth
and grace. The abbot seems as eternal and as immovable as a tombstone;
the mademoiselle appears to sail past sure of her own irresistible effect.

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek possesses another spirited portrait of

feminine beauty, a "Portrait of a Woman" by Corot, a romantic and
melancholy picture in subtle gray colours and certainly one of the master's
best works. But around these paintings are grouped many other valuable
pictures by the most famous French nineteenth-century masters. Painters
as Monet, Sisley, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Gauguin, and Cezanne are
very well represented.
The same gallery also has a fine selection of French sculpture of the
nineteenth century, as important in some respects as the paintings. Among
the artists included are Carpeaux, Rodin, and Maillol, and a complete set
of Degas's sculptures.
Copenhagen affords other scope for studying French ninetenth-century
art. A notable collection of paintings at Ordrupgard near Copenhagen
has thus recently been opened to the public after passing into State
ownership. This Collection ranges from Delacroix to Matisse and contains
excellent works by these and many other well-known French masters.

Edouard Manet's "Mile. Lemonnier", painted between 1875 and 1880. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

40
ESKIMOS
The National Museum in Copenhagen has the largest display of Eskimo
civilization in the world. A stroll through the galleries is like a tour of
the vast Arctic areas which stretch from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and
an introduction to everyknown form of Eskimo life. Largely owing to
these collections, Denmark has long been a centre of research in Arctic
culture. Objects from Greenland form the main body, but many others
were brought back by the Fifth Thule Expedition of 1921-24, which
visited the great central Eskimo region and Alaska.
The highest artistic development was reached in the two outer areas
of Alaska and Greenland. Alaska has the finest art in the oldest known
Eskimo civilizations, which probably go back nearly 2,000 years. In the
hard and solid tooth of the walrus which could be polished smooth the
artist found excellent material for carving and ornamenting.

In Greenland, art experienced its finest flowering in the nineteenth

century in the Angmagssalik district on the east coast, which is one of
the most isolated parts of the country. When a Danish naval officer arrived
there in 1884, the first European to set foot in this inaccessible region, he
found only 400 survivors of a large colony. Yet, although the tribe was
clearly dying out, art flourished as never before in the 1,000 years of
Greenland's history.
The wooden harpoon throwing
three objects illustrated are a bucket, a

board, and an eye-shade all from Angmagssalik. They are beautifully
made from polished wood decorated with figures of men, women, and
seals carved in bone and ivory.

Bucket, Harpoon Throwing Board, and Eye-shade from Angmagssalik, East Greenland.

42
I
MODERN ART
The and sculptures of the nineteenth century,
excellent French paintings
which have already been referred to, were to a great extent acquired by
private collectors. Following the same tradition others have gone in for
contemporary French art. Outstanding in this field is the Rump Collec-
tion, which has found a permanent home in the State Museum of Art.
In making funds available for new purchases, the donor stated that works
might be removed after a certain number of years. At present the collection
chiefly comprises the French group of painters known as Les Fauves. Among
twentieth-century French painters admirably represented here are Braque,
Dufy, Juan Oris, Gromaire, and Modigliani, and there is a very important
selection of works by Henri Matisse.
The illustration on the opposite page is a reproduction of one of Matisse's
works, entitled "Interior with Violin". The picture was painted during
the First World War in a small hotel at Nice. Here Matisse, in his own
words, "painted the light in black". It shows a room in half light, dominated
by black tone. The bright day outside is revealed by the half-closed
shutters,and the light which penetrates into the room has a doubly
intense and almost substantial effect, as seen in the blue violin-case lid
and the reddish-brown violin. Describing the picture, Matisse said that
the light "leapt into the room like a flame".

Interior with Violin by Henri Matisse. State Museum of Art, Copenhagen.

44
ADDRESSES OF MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS
Aalborg Museum, Aalborg.
Abenra Museum, Abenra.
Arhus Museum, Arhus.
Bornholm Museum, Ronne.
Den gamle By (The Old Town), Arhus.
Faborg Museum, Faborg.
Frederiksborg Slot med det nationalhistoriske museum, ( Frederiksborg Castle with Nati-
onal Historical Museum), Hillerod,
Fyns Stiftsmuseum ( Funen County Museum), Odense.
Hans Andersen's House, Odense.
Herning Museum, Herning.
Hjorring Museum, Hjorring.
Horsens Museum, Horsens.
Kallundborg Museum, Kallundborg,
Koldinghus, Kolding.
Kronborg med de historiske interiorer og Handels- og Sofartsmuseet ( Kronborg Castle
historical interiors and Naval and Commerce Museum), Elsinore.

Kunstmuseum (Art Museum), Soro.

Koge Museum, Koge.
Lolland-Falster Stiftsmuseum (Lolland-Falster County Museum), Maribo.
Malerisamlingen pa Nivagard ( Nivd Collection of Paintings), Niva.
Museet for Tender By og Amt (Tender Town and County Museum), Tonder.
Randers Museum, Randers.
Ribe Stiftsmuseum (Ribe County Museum), Ribe.
Skagen Museum, Skagen.
Skovgaard Museum, Viborg.
Sonderborg Slot (Sonderborg Castle), Sonderborg.
Vejen Museum, Vejen.

COPENHAGEN AND VICINITY:

C. L. Davids Samling (C. L. David Collection), Kronprinsessegade 30.
Den Hirschsprungske Samling (Hirschsprung Collection), Stockholmsgade 20.
Det kgl. Bibliotek (The Royal Library), Christiansgade 8.
Frilandsmuseet, Kongevej 100, Lyngby.
Kunstindustrimuseet (Museum of Decorative Art), Bredgade 68.
Kobenhavns Bymuseum (Copenhagen City Museum), City Hall (Radhuset).
Nationalmuseet (National Museum), Frederiksholms Kanal 12.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek), Dantes Plads 32.
Malerisamlingen pa Ordrupgard (Collection Paintings at Ordrupgdrd), Vilvordevej, Char-
lottenlund.
Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Palace) with Chronological Collection of Danish kings, Oster
Voldgade 4 A.
Statens Museum for Kunst (State Museum of Art), Solvgade.
Thorvaldsens Museum, Slotsholmen.
Tojhusmuseet (Arsenal Museum), Tejhusgade 9.
H. SCHUl.T2*/s
KOBENHAVN