RKD STUDIES

5.5 Fourth Phase: 1670-1682. A New Field Emerges

... or over Pictura og Sculptura og alle didhen hørende Kunster) and also as Pictor Primarius was given to someone, who would have been thought of as more modern and internationally informed, since he had only just returned from three years of studies on a royal stipend in Germany, Italy, France, and the Netherlands: Lambert van Haven (1630-1695).3 Van Haven, a Norwegian with roots in the Low Countries, was the brother of Michael van Haven who had for a short while taken over Wuchters’ position as teacher at Sorø Academy, before the position was abolished. Lambert van Haven was really an architect, and only a mediocre painter. His newly created position, however, was a sign of the awareness of the King that art should now be produced for the glorification of the absolute monarch and that all official art should be guided by a common motivation and direction [1]....

... to maintain his dominance while adjusting to the new possibilities and changing players in this field. The new absolutist state took his death as a chance to reorganise and centralise the field of royal art....

... nmark, focussing on the King’s and the Queen’s commissions, he would not become a ‘new’ Van Mander, as...

5.4 Third Phase: 1657-1662. War and Revolution

... 58, and the Swedish Chancellor Gabriel Oxenstierna (1619-1673) [2] stayed in the city from 13 March to 3 April, and no doubt Wuchters made contact. We know that Charles X Gustav called the Danish court artist Toussaint Gelton (c. 1630-1680) to Göteborg for ten weeks in 1658 in order to paint his portrait [3], amongst other things, so the conqueror felt free it seems to use the artists of the Danish king, and the King himself very likely felt politely obliged to consent.1Wuchters was not immediately enrolled into the service of the Swedes, but his contacts with them during their stay in Sorø paved the way and came into fruition during the second war from 1659-1660. In 1659 we find him portraying King Charles X Gustav [4] and he received payment for images for Queen Hedvig Eleonora [6] and the Swedish military commander Claes Tott.2 In 1660, when he stayed for five months in the house of Haelwegh in Copenhagen, we find payments from German commanders in Swedish employ, such as Fredrick II von Hessen-Homburg [5, 7] or Georg III von Hessen-Darmstadt [8], and again from the Swedish Queen, who was widowed around that time.3...

... the new political and social structure that was developing, and as a result of his betting on the wrong horses. Having taken the ready chance for employment the Swedish occupation offered and having left the centre of action at such a crucial time, Wuchters appears to have missed the opportunity to make a move towards greater influence. Whether he would ever have succeeded in such a move, given the talent, versatility and position of Van Mander, must remain speculation. What clearly transpires is that for some years he was out and marginalised. In the following years hardly any works are known from his hand, and only in 1666 were the tides turning. New commissions for royal portraits were given, showing among others the Crown Prince Christian [11] and his brother, Prince George. In 1669 he was granted the privilege to exercise his art freely and to enjoy the same privileges and freedoms as other servants of the king....

4.12 Oak, Tool Marks and Standard Sizes

... nds or Germany, found a few times among the Winter Room panels.2 Wainscot boards could provide a durable surface, whether for painting, decorative or structural work. The characteristics of wainscot are precisely those that were valued by painters and joiners, who came to rely on the provision of this material from the 13th century until the end of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).3...

... etropolis et Portus Celeberrimus Daniae of 1611, shows a spectacular view of Copenhagen [1]. The prospect not only highlights the Copenhagen harbor and the vast city beyond as the most important in the Baltic region, but also depicts Danish and Dutch ships mooring outside the city. Especially many Dutch ships are seen close to the eastern city areas where the imported timber is being stored before distribution to architects, carpenters and shipbuilders....

... e planks and thus, hand-sawn Flemish panels offer a contrast to th...

... ecorative purpose already established in advance of the order.The discovery of traces of ‘GA’’s plane and red chalk inscriptions on panels and frames also used for other artists paintings, points to a job done in haste. This precludes the possibility that the paintings have been assembled bit by bit to form the decorations for the Winter Room, but rather that standard size panels were dispersed to a number of artists’ workshops and later returned to be framed by ‘GA’ in prefabricated frames to fit the sizes of the panels.Smaller panels used for easel painting were often made in standard sizes. Standardization has been recognized in panels made at roughly the same time for paintings for the market in the Low Countries11 which also became the rule for canvasses12 and is still seen in ready-made supports today labelled landscape-size, marine-size or portrait size.13 The use of standard sizes for panels has been questioned by some, and doubts might have emerged from earlier researchers because standard sizes could vary over the centuries, just as the size of a foot or an inch could differ from town to town. For instance, in Haarlem a foot measured 27.6 cm, in Groningen 29.2 cm, the Rhineland foot (e.g. in Leiden) measured 31.4 cm, while an Amsterdam foot corresponded to 28.3 cm.14 However, more recent research suggests that standardization was common and indeed institutionalized in the so-called dozijn panels (the name given to panels made by the dozen). Antwerp joiners’ regulations of 1617 explicitly stated that panels after that...

3.7 Postscript

... merchants or women from other artistic families. After he had been widowed twice, Wuchters married for the third time in 1679, taking as his wife the widow of the only son of Karel van Mander III, Carel, and became the stepfather to the latter’s young daughter Anna Maria!...

... nhagen (his wife also left premises at Christianshavn on her death), but also to Abraham Wuchters, who in his later life lived in a large house behind the Bourse. After Wuchters’ death, the Queen herself bought the...

... n, Antonie van Steenwinckel, too, left behind an extensive collection. Both Pieter Isaacsz and Karel van Mander III had close confidential relations with the King, holding high-level discussions with him and enjoying access to the royal castles and gardens. After his rehabilitation, Wuchters had ingratiated himself with Queen Sophie Amalie and had a position of confidence with the many important court officials....

... r some forty years in Denmark, still regarded himself – probably deliberately – as an immigrant, is apparent from a eulogy that he wrote in 1668 to a portrait of Frederick III, that he himself had painted, in which he describes himself with a play on words based on his name: ‘Wandersman’ (wandering man).6...

3.3 The Patronage of Christian IV

... men there. Commissioned by the noblemen who took over the government while Christian IV was a minor, he produced the freestanding funerary monument made from marble and alabaster between 1594 and 1598 for Frederick II and Queen Sophie in the Cathedral of Roskilde [1]. Two small alabaster reliefs with equestrian portraits of Frederick II are attributed to him on the grounds of stylistic similarities [2-3].3...

... t his background, but we do know that he wrote fluent Danish. It is possible he may have been born in Copenhagen, where his mother had a business trading in herbs and medicines. He became wealthy and owned a house in Copenhagen. He also taught a number of pupils, including Alexander de Went. His later work consisted mainly of making copies of existing portraits.6...

... nce Christian, dating from 1611, now in Rosenborg Castle [5]. A notable feature of Van Doort’s portraits is the feeling of peace that exudes both from the subject of the portraits and from the composition as a ...

... ll in its former state in the above mentioned painting attributed to Van Wijck, was almost completely demolished and rebuilt. The Cathedral in Roskilde gained a new royal chapel in 1613, constructed by Laurens van Steenwinckel (c. 1585-1619). New cities were constructed in Denmark, Northern Germany, Southern Sweden and Norway, almost all named after the King, and existing cities were improved.9...

... , who worked in Prague at the time, was constructed on the forecourt of Frederiksborg between 1618 and 1622. The fountain that is to be seen there today, is a reconstruction dating from the end of the 19th century [9]. Because the fountain was dissembled and looted by the Swedes in 1659, the 16 statues ended up in the Museum De Vries in Drottningholm. One of them is on loan to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam since 1977 [10].12...

3.1 Relations with Flemish Artists in the 16th Century

... 1555) for the Cathedral in Schleswig [3].4 There were some periods when he was seconded to allied monarchs. In any event, between 1548 and 1550 he was permanently in Denmark. For most of this time he lived in Königsberg (Kaliningrad), where he also died. With some degree of certainty the miniature with the Portrait of Dorothea of Prussia in Frederiksborg Castle can be attributed to Binck [4]. After the death of Christian III, his widow, Dorothea, settled at Sønderborg Castle, where she had the first Danish royal chapel built in renaissance style. Besides several other Netherlandish artworks, including the baptismal font by Cornelis Floris, probably dating from 1557 [5], the chapel also contains an altar piece attributed to Frans Floris I that must have been made in Antwerp around 1560 [6].5...

... owing a tomb that in terms of dimensions and iconographical programme differs considerably from the work as it was finally executed, signed and dated ‘1574 februis C.F.’, can be seen in the Kobberstiksamling at the Statens Museum for Kunst [8].6...

2.12 Students and Emulators of Rembrandt

... went on journeys to the Dutch Republic and Italy. When he was registered at the University of Leiden in 1634, he developed an urge to paint. An etching of 1650 [1640, ed.] [1] shows the influence of Rembrandt in its conception and a connection to Haarlem artists, such as Suyderhoef, in its technique. Oldeland also copied an engraving by Lucas van Leyden [2]. In Vienna there is a fetching drawn Self-Portrait of 1643 [3]....

... nting, Young and old woman in front of a mirror (HdG 310) [11-12].6 In 1674 Mathisen was a member of the Bent in Rome, but nothing is known about any stay in The Dutch Republic.7 Karel van Mander probably introduced him to the Rembrandt style, which clearly shows up in another picture in Fredensborg (Old man reading, signed) [13]. This manner is a little less pronounced in The Barn (same location) [14], which is reminiscent of Hendrick Martensz. Sorgh and Cornelis Saftleven....

... s students in Amsterdam. He was introduced to the fundaments of Dutch art by Morten van Steenwinckel in Copenhagen, but his stay in Italy appears to have wiped out all traces of Dutch schooling, so that Italian scholarship now gives the only surviving picture in Denmark, Evening visit to a sculptor, to an unknown Caravaggio follower [19].9...

... nhagen [20-21].11 A signed drawing of The Healing of Tobias, discovered by K.E. Simon, has ended up in the Copenhagen print cabinet [22]. It is more reminiscent of Bramer, Moeyaert and contemporary mannerists than of any early work by Rembrandt....

... everal portraits.14 The pictures of this time are good examples of his Rembrandtesque manner.His student, Magnus Jørgensen (active 1683-1719), who hailed from Randers, painted several allegories (Fredensborg, Randers, Lund) in which one can still discern a little of Ovens’ teaching [34-36]....

... ogues and old collections, but secure attributions remain rarities even today (collection Belgioso, Milan) [38].16Abraham van der Hecken also had Danish clients. In 1653 Joachim Beck, who came from ‘Güstrow in the realm of Denmark’, had himself portrayed by Van der Hecken, and that in two versions...

2.6 Simon de Passe’s Commission

... Isaacsz had yet to die when Christian IV attracted a new force from the Dutch Republic, namely the eng...

... me town of Utrecht for collaborators. The lion’s share was secured by his brother Crispijn van de Passe II, who came to Copenhagen for the purpose [4-33].2...

2.5 Tapestries for Christian IV

... originally intended for his competitor, Frans Spiering (1551-1630), with whom he had parted ways the preceding year. He and two collaborators had even started a new enterprise, and this was the first large foreign commission for the young firm! Unfortunately the series, which was delivered in 1619 to 1621, was also destroyed in the castle fire of 1859, but we can still judge on the compositions via drawn copies [1-4].1...

... ime. He lived both in that city and in the Dutch Republic. Christian IV owed him 210 Thalers when he died. His widow entrusted the collection of this sum to the painter Karel van Mander III in Copenhagen.3...

8. Epilogue. On the Necessity of a Transnational Approach to the History of 19th-Century Art

... erman painting than one might expect – albeit for rather specific, indeed nationalistic, reasons. This only added to my conviction that in order to truly understand the nineteenth century, it was necessary to look beyond national borders, to understand nationalism and internationalism as two sides of the same coin, and, in particular, to develop new methods that would allow us to understand the art created in this period in all its complexity and probable hybridity. And, of course, I was not alone: in the years that followed, many other art historians began to look at this seminal period from this new point of view, a trend that has continued until today, although perhaps not with the strength that one might have hoped....

... one as well. The neo-liberal, economic instrumentalization of the university is in full swing and in this “brave new world”, in which success is measured in contributions to the nation’s wealth – the so-called “knowledge economy” – chauvinism threatens to rear its ugly head as well. For what use, for example, is research that relativizes the achievements of the past; that reveals webs of relations between artists of different backgrounds; that seeks out common currents rather than “national genius”?...

... tury in this way, we can demonstrate the hollowness of contemporary political and cultural rhetoric, which often falls back on what it sees as the “good old days” of national unity and purity. The historical moment demands that this myth be further dismantled. What wasn’t true then can certainly not be true now....

... rm belief, however, that research is not – and never has been – neutral (even if for centuries it pretended to be so). Let us accept that fact and put our remaining freedom to work, not only for a better understanding of the nineteenth century an sich, but for what this new understanding reveals that can be useful to us today. Let’s call it: engaged art history. In this way, perhaps the promise of 1990 can still be fulfilled....