Christen Købke executed a number of artworks with Frederiksborg Castle as subject matter during the 1830s. A particularly striking example is this small painting, whose motif and geographical location may seem difficult to determine at first glance. However, a closer inspection of the architectural details in the foreground, the brick chimney and the copper-clad spire leaves no doubt that this is indeed Frederiksborg Castle. At the time, the castle was frequently depicted by artists seeking to shore up and promote the Danish growing sense of national identity.
Købke has depicted a view over one ridge of the roof of Frederiksborg Castle with a view towards the lake, town and forest beyond. As in
20/1969, he has explored his subject from a highly unusual vantage point. Købke must be applauded for his choice of point of view, cropping and emphasis on a composition that runs parallel to the picture plane. His focus on the brick chimney in the middle of the picture’s foreground is particularly striking.
[1]The Ridge of Frederiksborg Castle with a View of the Lake, Town, and Forest was executed at the same time as
20/1969, and Købke also repeated this motif as part of the decoration of his parents’ house on Blegdammen in Copenhagen.
[2] Over time, many have speculated whether Købke created his small paintings as detailed studies in preparation for the larger versions. However, several scholars have, by various routes, concluded that in all likelihood Købke painted the smaller pictures without any thought whatsoever of later rescaling them, and that the repetitions were probably prompted by his father’s desire to see precisely these scenes used on the walls of his private dining room.
[3]
Inv. no. 31/2014
Published in:
Katalog over Malerier og Studier af Christen Schiellerup Købke, udstillede i Kunstforeningen i Foraaret 1884, Kunstforeningen, København 1884, cat. 44, p. 8;
Emil Hannover: Maleren Christen Købke: En Studie i dansk Kunsthistorie, København 1893, p. 71, cat. 62, p. 137;
Raadhusudstillingen af dansk kunst 1901: Fortegnelse over de udstillede Arbejder, København 1901, cat. 1030;
Fortegnelse over Christen Købkes Malerier: Kunstforeningen Marts-April 1912, København 1912, cat. 75;
Mario Krohn: Maleren Christen Købkes Arbejder, København 1915, no. 76, p. 50;
Christen Købke: udstilling 31. januar – 28. februar 1953, Kunstforeningen, København 1953, cat. 46;
Erik Zahle (ed.): Danmarks Malerkunst. Fra middelalder til nutid, 4. ed., København 1956, p. 141;
Kasper Monrad in L’âge d’or de la peinture danoise 1800-1850, Grand Palais, Paris 1984, pp. 219, 224;
Kasper Monrad: “Købke på Frederiksborg i 1835” in Nina Damsgaard (ed.): Danmarks Christian - Chr. IV i eftertiden, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Århus 1988, cat. 1926, p. 56;
Torsten Gunnarsson: Friluftsmåleri före friluftsmåleriet. Oliestudien i nordiskt landskabsmåleri 1800-1850, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Ars Suetica 12, Uppsala 1989, p. 123;
Sanford Schwartz: Christen Købke, New York 1992, pp. 35-36;
Kasper Monrad and Philip Conisbee (et al.): The golden age of Danish Painting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art og Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1993, p. 156;
Hans Edvard Nørregård-Nielsen and Kasper Monrad (eds.): Christen Købke, 1810-1848, Statens Museum for Kunst, København 1996, fig. 117, pp. 185-189 and cat. 76;
Karina Lykke Grand: Nye optikker på dansk guldalder: rejsebilleder og det fotografiske blik, Aarhus 2011, pp. 167-170;
