Copenhagen Harbor by Moonlight
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
- 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
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