This sketch served as the modello for a finished painting of the same date that now belongs to the Thorvaldsens Museum, whose audacious neoclassical building was erected to house the art of Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844). The sculptor, who spent most of his career in Rome, was celebrated internationally and was a hero to his fellow Danes.
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London. Crawley & Asquith Ltd and John Lishawa. "The Art of the Landscape: Classical, Neo-Classical & en plein-air 1650–1900," July 1988, no. 53 (lent by David Carritt Ltd, Artemis Group).
New York. Pierpont Morgan Library. "The Thaw Collection: Master Drawings and Oil Sketches, Acquisitions Since 1994," September 27, 2002–January 19, 2003, not in catalogue.
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. "The Romantic Prospect: Plein Air Painters, 1780–1850," June 22–August 15, 2004, no. 67.
Sydney. Art Gallery of New South Wales. "Plein-air Painting in Europe, 1780–1850," September 4–October 31, 2004, no. 67.
Melbourne. National Gallery of Victoria. "Plein-air Painting in Europe, 1780–1850," November 19, 2004–January 16, 2005, no. 67.
New York. Morgan Library & Museum. "Plein Air Sketching in the North," December 11, 2018–August 25, 2019, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art," January 26–April 16, 2023, no. 23.
Emil Hannover. Maleren Constantin Hansen: en studie i dansk kunsthistorie. Copenhagen, 1901, p. 327, no. 362, states that it was number 78 in the "Constantin Hansens Auktions-Katalog".
The Art of the Landscape: Classical, Neo-Classical & en plein-air 1650–1900. Exh. cat., Crawley & Asquith Ltd with John Lishawa. London, 1988, pp. 92–93, no. 53, ill., states that this and another version in the Thorvaldsens Museum were preparatory sketches for part of the decoration of a Pompeiian style room in Maags Gaard, in Copenhagen.
Charlotte Gere inPlein-Air Painting in Europe, 1780–1850. Exh. cat., Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. Shizuoka, 2004, p. 132, no. 67, ill. (color), states that the work came from the artist's studio and was number 78 in the artist's sale, following Hannover (1901); notes that it was number 262 in the Copenhagen Royal Academy's annual exhibition at the Charlottenborg Palace in 1858; observes that it is almost exactly the same size as the other version of the painting from the same year in the Thorvaldsens Museum; calls it a reversion to the fluid sketch manner of his Italian years at the same time that the artist was producing tightly painted portraits out of necessity.
Esther Bell. "Catalogue Raisonné of the Thaw Collection." Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection. Ed. Jennifer Tonkovich. New York, 2011, p. 129, no. 84, ill. (color), dates it 1858.
Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art. Ed. Freyda Spira et al. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, p. 200, colorpl. 23.
Stephanie Schrader. "Looking Out/Gazing In: Portraits of Nineteenth-Century Danish Artists." Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art. Ed. Freyda Spira et al. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, p. 50.
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (Danish, Blåkrog 1783–1853 Copenhagen)
ca. 1814–15
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