The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden Age

In standard twentieth-century accounts of the state of painting during the Danish Golden Age (1801-1864), genre painting is seldom credited with any share of the painterly innovativeness of the period. And although contemporary attempts at a scholarly revision have done much to remedy this situat...

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Main Author: Lægring, Kasper
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari 2022-10-01
Series:MDCCC 1800
Subjects:
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.30687/MDCCC/2280-8841/2022/11/003
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author Lægring, Kasper
author_facet Lægring, Kasper
author_sort Lægring, Kasper
collection DOAJ
description In standard twentieth-century accounts of the state of painting during the Danish Golden Age (1801-1864), genre painting is seldom credited with any share of the painterly innovativeness of the period. And although contemporary attempts at a scholarly revision have done much to remedy this situation, Danish Golden Age genre painting is usually not considered outside of its immediate historical context. In contrast, this article, which focuses on the genre of art students painting each other in their studios, argues that genre painting was a driving force in the Romantic turn in Danish painting. It concerns a series of interconnected paintings from the late 1820s, painted by Wilhelm Bendz, Ditlev Blunck and Albert Küchler, and it argues that these works not only stand in relation to past examples from the Dutch Golden Age, they also reinvent conventional concepts in the image of Romanticism. Furthermore, these canvases testify to an intense aesthetic exchange between theatre and painting, it is argued, which is substantiated with reference to the outputs by the poet and playwright Henrik Hertz and the philosopher F. C. Sibbern. Whilst this reciprocity constituted a rapprochement to realism, it by no means implies that the studio ‘portrait’ was just an outcome of an interest in the quotidian; in fact, it is argued that the term ‘reality effect’ might better explain the artistic ambition at work. Lastly, this article makes the case for an interpretation of the studio ‘portrait’ as being equally indebted to, and compositionally carefully balanced between, conventionality and experimentation.
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spelling doaj.art-cc04618be4384646b76893e627a207212023-10-30T08:14:20ZengFondazione Università Ca’ FoscariMDCCC 18002280-88412022-10-0111110.30687/MDCCC/2280-8841/2022/11/003journal_article_7954The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden AgeLægring, Kasper0Aarhus University In standard twentieth-century accounts of the state of painting during the Danish Golden Age (1801-1864), genre painting is seldom credited with any share of the painterly innovativeness of the period. And although contemporary attempts at a scholarly revision have done much to remedy this situation, Danish Golden Age genre painting is usually not considered outside of its immediate historical context. In contrast, this article, which focuses on the genre of art students painting each other in their studios, argues that genre painting was a driving force in the Romantic turn in Danish painting. It concerns a series of interconnected paintings from the late 1820s, painted by Wilhelm Bendz, Ditlev Blunck and Albert Küchler, and it argues that these works not only stand in relation to past examples from the Dutch Golden Age, they also reinvent conventional concepts in the image of Romanticism. Furthermore, these canvases testify to an intense aesthetic exchange between theatre and painting, it is argued, which is substantiated with reference to the outputs by the poet and playwright Henrik Hertz and the philosopher F. C. Sibbern. Whilst this reciprocity constituted a rapprochement to realism, it by no means implies that the studio ‘portrait’ was just an outcome of an interest in the quotidian; in fact, it is argued that the term ‘reality effect’ might better explain the artistic ambition at work. Lastly, this article makes the case for an interpretation of the studio ‘portrait’ as being equally indebted to, and compositionally carefully balanced between, conventionality and experimentation. http://doi.org/10.30687/MDCCC/2280-8841/2022/11/003Albert Küchler. Conventionalism. Danish Golden Age. Ditlev Blunck. Dutch Golden Age. Frederik Christian Sibbern. Genre painting. Henrik Hertz. Iconography. Romanticism. Wilhelm Bendz
spellingShingle Lægring, Kasper
The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden Age
MDCCC 1800
Albert Küchler. Conventionalism. Danish Golden Age. Ditlev Blunck. Dutch Golden Age. Frederik Christian Sibbern. Genre painting. Henrik Hertz. Iconography. Romanticism. Wilhelm Bendz
title The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden Age
title_full The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden Age
title_fullStr The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden Age
title_full_unstemmed The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden Age
title_short The (Re)birth of Genre Painting during the Danish Golden Age
title_sort re birth of genre painting during the danish golden age
topic Albert Küchler. Conventionalism. Danish Golden Age. Ditlev Blunck. Dutch Golden Age. Frederik Christian Sibbern. Genre painting. Henrik Hertz. Iconography. Romanticism. Wilhelm Bendz
url http://doi.org/10.30687/MDCCC/2280-8841/2022/11/003
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