Carsten HENRICHSEN

(1824–1897, Copenhagen)

 

In the first half of the 19th century, Denmark enjoyed what was called “Den danske guldalder” - or the “Danish Golden Age”, a period of exceptional intellectual and artistic creative production. After a turbulent historical period, when Denmark had emerged as a constitutional monarchy, artists sought a unifying and stabilizing identity for the nation.

Inspired by German romantic nationalism, best represented by Caspar David Friedrich’s fascinating meditations on landscape, Danish artists sought to define a distinctly national spirit through the colours and contours of the Danish landscape.

Quite particular was the painters’ use of the light of the North, a soft light but one that allows strong colour contrasts. The most recurring subjects, in addition to intimate domestic interiors and still lifes, were country landscapes and, as in the case of the work presented here, the characteristic cliffs of the jagged Danish coast. Several Danish painters of the Golden Age, including Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and Louis Gurlitt but also many international artists, painted the Sommerspiret - in English “Summer Spire” - considered a real attraction, an imposing limestone formation overlooking the sea on the eastern part of the Danish island of Mon (Møns Klint), which shines in the sun and stands out against the bright blue Danish sky.

Like them, Carsten Henrichsen also chose to represent this characteristic naturalistic element of Denmark.

Almost as if inside a postcard, the artist describes the setting with excellent miniaturist skills. On this sunny summer day, the details are incredibly precise and accurate: like the leaves of the more and less distant shrubs, the tiny boats on the sea, of which the artist depicted not only the white sails but even managed to hint at the reflection they create on the waves, while on the horizon the grey smoke outlines the profile of a ship.

After admiring the landscape behind them, two characters are moving away from the cliff chatting and we can guess the nonchalant attitude of the man who is talking while gesticulating with his left arm and the one who is listening.

Looking at them carefully we understand that Henrichsen had portrayed himself in the company of a colleague returning from their painting session with folders and typical easels underarm.

The artist’s technical skills and romantic atmosphere make this painting a work of great quality. Moreover, considering that by 1988 the tourist destination of Sommerspiret had been almost completely eroded away by the sea, the work can be considered a real testimony. The fact of having immortalized a characteristic scenario which is now lost, gives the work increased charm and value.

 

Carsten Henrichsen was born into a working-class family in Copenhagen in 1824. He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1840 to 1845 and studied drawing with Frederik Ferdinand Helsted. From the late 1840s, he produced many paintings in Copenhagen and Northern Zealand. He received the Neuhausen Award in 1855 and a scholarship from the Academy in 1858.