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Copenhagen Harbor by Moonlight

1846
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 807
Since the early nineteenth century, the waterfront shipyard and lumberyard depicted in this view has been known as Larsens Plads, or Larsen’s Place, after its founder, Lars Larsen. Dahl first painted this prospect in 1816 (Kurpfälzisches Museum, Heidelberg), but in reprising it for the present work he doubled the size of the canvas, omitting incidental details and heightening its atmospheric effect. This placid scene, conceived as the pendant to a far wilder, natural one, Tyrolean Landscape with a Waterfall (1823; private collection), remained unsold at the artist’s death.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Copenhagen Harbor by Moonlight
  • Artist: Johan Christian Dahl (Norwegian, Bergen 1788–1857 Dresden)
  • Date: 1846
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 37 3/4 x 60 5/8 in. (95.9 x 154 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Christen Sveaas, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2019
  • Object Number: 2019.167.2
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Denkmale einer sehr ausgebildeten Holzbaukunst aus den frühesten Jahrhunderten in den innern Landschaften Norwegens
Johan Christian Dahl
1837
The River Elbe in Moonlight, Johan Christian Dahl Norwegian, Brush and gray wash, heightened with white bodycolour, over graphite and black chalk
The River Elbe in Moonlight
Johan Christian Dahl
1833
The Aller Church in Sønderjyllands Amt (Denmark), seen from the North, Johan Christian Dahl Norwegian, Graphite, brush and brown wash; framing lines in graphite, probably by the artist
The Aller Church in Sønderjyllands Amt (Denmark), seen from the North
Johan Christian Dahl
late 18th–19th century
View of Frederiksborg Castle from the Northeast, Johan Christian Dahl Norwegian, Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, over a sketch in graphite
View of Frederiksborg Castle from the Northeast
Johan Christian Dahl
1817
Peasant's Hut at the Edge of a Forest, Johan Christian Dahl Norwegian, Etching; second state of two
Peasant's Hut at the Edge of a Forest
Johan Christian Dahl
1828

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