Abstract
Gertrud Oelsner shows how the Scottish poet and historical novelist Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) influenced one of the key moments in Danish romanticism: the discovery of the Jutland heath as a motif in Danish landscape painting. As Oelsner points out, it has been commonly accepted by historians of Danish romanticism that the Jutland heath only became a motif in Danish romantic art following an influential lecture by Niels Laurits Høyen (1798–1870) at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen, in March 1844. However, Oelsner reveals that the early sketches and diaries of the Danish landscape painter Martinus Rørbye (1803–1848) make it clear that he went to then largely unknown Jutland as early as 1830, and was shortly followed by other artists – all influenced significantly by the work of Walter Scott.
Gertrud Oelsner would like to thank Thor Mednick for his comments on a first draft of this essay.
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Notes
- 1.
Torben Holck Colding et al., Dansk Kunsthistorie. Akademiet og Guldalderen 1750–1850 (Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag, 1972); Hans Edvard Nørregård-Nielsen, Dansk Kunst 1 (Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1983); and Henrik Bramsen, Fra rokoko til guldalder, vol. 3 of Ny dansk kunsthistorie, ed. Peter Michael Hornung (Copenhagen: Forlaget Palle Fogtdal A/S, 1994).
- 2.
In Denmark, at Thorvaldsens Museum, the exhibition and catalogue were titled Under samme himmel [Under the Same Sky], but for the Canadian venue the title was slightly changed, to Baltic Light: Early Open-Air Painting in Denmark and North Germany (1999).
- 3.
See this volume Chapter 6: ‘British and Danish Romantic-Period Adaptations’; and, Lis Møller, ‘Romantisk naturalisme: P. C. Skovgaard og den engelske romantiske naturlyrik’, in Gertrud Oelsner and Karina Lykke Grand (eds.), P. C. Skovgaard. Dansk guldalder revurderet (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2010), pp. 235–47. An English-language version of this article is available at:http://www.fuglsangkunstmuseum.dk/skovgaard_publ/ (last accessed 8 March 2017).
- 4.
For a survey of Anglo-Danish exchanges literature, see: Jørgen Erik Nielsen, Den samtidige engelske litteratur og Danmark 1800–1840, vol. 1 (Copenhagen: Publications of the Department of English, University of Copenhagen, 1976).
- 5.
Carl Reitzel, En fortegnelse over danske Kunstneres Arbeider paa de ved Det Kgl. Akademi for de skjønne Kunster i Aarene 1807–1882 afholdte Charlottenborg-udstillinger.(Copenhagen: Thieles Bogtrykkeri, 1883).
- 6.
Among the many Ossian interpreters at the Charlottenborg exhibitions were several pupils of the celebrated Danish neo-classical sculptor and painter Nicolai Abildgaard (1743–1809), professor of painting at the Royal Danish Academy of Art from 1778 until his death. It should be noted, of course, that this is not peculiar to Denmark: Ossian was popular throughout Europe during the romantic period.
- 7.
See, for example: Patrick Kragelund, Kunstneren mellem oprørene, 2 vols. (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1999); and Thomas Lederballe (ed.), Nicolai Abildgaard. Revolution Embodied (Copenhagen: National Gallery of Denmark, 2010). For an older and broader introduction to the age of Abildgaard, see Kasper Monrad (ed.), Mellem guder og helte. Historiemaleriet i Rom, Paris og København (Copenhagen: National Gallery of Denmark, 1990).
- 8.
Future conflicts, such as Denmark’s protracted conflict with Germany, culminating in the First and Second Schleswig Wars, were to cast an even longer shadow over the master narrative of Danish art history, not only in the nineteenth century, but also into the twentieth. This is at least partially explained by the fact that these conflicts were events of central significance to the rhetoric that dominated the intellectual discourse of nation building in nineteenth-century Denmark.
- 9.
For a general introduction to Denmark’s relationship with the world exhibitions, see Margit Mogensen, Eventyrets tid. Danmarks deltagelsei Verdensudstillingerne 1851–1900 (Odense: Landbohistorisk Selskab, 1993).
- 10.
Hans Hertel, ‘Vort eget Skotland’, in Bente Scavenius (ed.), Guldalderhistorier (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1994), pp. 174–85.
- 11.
N. L. Høyen, ‘On the conditions of the development of a Scandinavian National Art’, in J. L. Ussing (ed.), Niels Laurits Høyens Skrifter (Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1871), pp. 351–68.
- 12.
See, for example, Karl Madsen, Kunstens Historie i Danmark (Copenhagen: Alfred Jacobsen, 1901–1907); Erik Zahle (ed.), Danmarks Malerkunst (Copenhagen: H. Hirschsprungs Forlag, 1937); Kasper Monrad, Hverdagsbilleder. Dansk Guldalder – kunstnerne og deres vilkår (Copenhagen: Chr. Ejlers’ Forlag, 1989); Colding; and Nørregård-Nielsen.
- 13.
My perception of an affinity between the national and the Nordic draws on Høyen’s statement in his essay ‘On the conditions’ about national identity as a Nordic project. The idea of a common Nordic cultural identity was prevalent around the middle of the nineteenth century and took rhetorical form in the notion of ‘Scandinavianism’. The idea of specific landscapes as particularly Nordic appears even earlier, however; an aspect to which I will return later in this essay.
- 14.
The Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 was the result of Denmark’s attempt to maintain its lucrative position in the League of Armed Neutrality. The British attack on Denmark took place on 2 April 1801, and in the naval battle, large parts of the Danish fleet were destroyed. The Bombardment of Copenhagen in September 1807 was an attempt by Britain and its allies to compel Denmark to abandon its neutrality and forced Denmark to cede its remaining fleet to Britain.
- 15.
In the first two decades of the nineteenth century, landscape painting still ranked low in Academic hierarchies of genre, and artists who had specialised in this field had difficulties when applying for financial support. The problem related both to medal competitions at the Academy and to other funding possibilities. For more about the gold medal competitions, see Emma Salling, Kunstakademiets guldmedalje konkurrencer 1755–1857 (Copenhagen: Kunstakademiets Bibliotek, 1975).
- 16.
Henny Glarbo, Fonden ad usus publicos, vol. 3. (Copenhagen: Munksgaards Forlag, 1947) contains a meticulous description of Rørbye’s applications for funding. For recent scholarship on the southbound travels of Rørbye, see Karina Lykke Grand, ‘Dannelsesrejsen til Italien – det nye rejsebillede’, in Birgitte von Folsach and Sidsel Maria Søndergaard (eds.), Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne (Nivaa, Copenhagen, Viborg and Ribe: Nivaagaard Samlingen, Øregaard Museum, Skovgaard Museet and Ribe Kunstmuseum, 2014), pp. 161–92. For Eckersberg on Rørbye, see von Folsach and Søndergaard, p. 21. The Fonden ad usus publicos was established by Frederik V of Denmark in 1765, and it funded several civil servants, scientists and artists until 1842, when it was abolished. From the end of the eighteenth century the foundation started to prioritise support for visual artists.
- 17.
C. F. Bricka, Fonden ad usus publicos, vol. 2 (Copenhagen: Reitzels, 1902), p. 308.
- 18.
That the majority of Harder’s works are in private collections complicates a survey of the artistic outcome of his journey. The few known paintings, particularly a series of prospects from Kolding (a provincial town in the eastern part of Jutland), give some indication of how Jutland was often represented. In Kolding, the mighty ruin of Koldinghus was an ideal motif for the painter, who rendered the ruin in multiple versions, sometimes in nearly identical versions. Examples of his practice are, for instance, Prospect of the ruins of Kolding Castle with a part of the city and the surroundings viewed from south, evening light, 1824, oil on canvas, 36.5 × 47 cm, Museet på Koldinghus, inv. 2934; and the painting: Prospect of the ruins of Kolding Castle, 1834, oil on cardboard, 34 × 49 cm, offered at Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, auction 1512, number 141. In addition to these two artworks, Museet på Koldinghus owns another piece by Harder: Kolding forest mill, watercolor on paper, 152 × 196 mm, inv. 01389X08946a. While it has not been possible to discover more Jutland motifs, some Funen motifs exist along with more from southern Zealand, where the district around Sorø is widely represented.
- 19.
Prior to 1830, travellers between Jutland and Zealand had been limited to sailing ships, and most frequently the voyage was undertaken by postal services which operated more vessels around the country. In connection with this it might be worth considering whether Harder, about whose whereabouts we know very little, travelled on this route. One of the main lines of communication to Jutland was via Snoghøj, and from here the road to Kolding was short.
- 20.
The Academy of Fine Art in Oslo was founded in 1909.
- 21.
The exception to this rule is Møn, which from the end of the eighteenth century held a special place in Danish landscape art. Not only were the landscapes at Møn much more dramatic than elsewhere in Denmark, but they were also of long-standing interest for natural philosophers. Furthermore, the historian Christian Molbech described the landscapes of Møn in his epistolary novel Ungdomsvandringer i mit Fødeland, 2 vols. (Copenhagen: 1811, 1815) and, in so doing, anticipated the popularisation of the cliffs.
- 22.
Molbech travelled to Jutland in 1815, 1828, and 1829, and subsequently published accounts of his journeys in Ungdomsvandringer i mit Fødeland, ‘Optegnelser paa en udflugt til Jylland i Sommeren 1828‘, and ‘En Skrivelse fra Jylland til Dr og Professor A. L. J. Michelsen i Kiel’. On 22 May 1819, industrial historian O. J. Rawert was awarded a travel grant by Fonden ad usus publicos for a domestic journey. See Bricka, Fonden, vol. 2, p. 151. Rawert’s travels are of special interest since he meticulously captured his experiences in watercolors, which today belong to the collections of the Royal Danish Library and have also been published online. His accounts from these travels around Denmark, including Jutland, have been published as Beretning om Industriens Tilstand i de danske Provindser, samt om nogle Midler til dens Fremme, nedskrevet paa en Reise i Sommeren 1819 og 1820 (Copenhagen: H. F. Popp, 1820) and Kongeriget Danmarks Industrielle Forhold. Fra de ældste Tider indtil Begyndelsen af 1848 (Copenhagen: Høst, 1850). Rawert’s grant was renewed for the following four years, and every summer he conducted thorough travels of inspection to the various regions of Denmark, to examine industrial practices – which might explain why he never visited either western Jutland or Thy, in the northwestern part of Denmark. Prior to this first journey in 1819, Rawert undertook an extensive European tour, visiting Britain and Ireland. The insights gained on these earlier trips were put to good use during his comparative journey through Denmark.
- 23.
A complete inventory of the exhibited works was prepared by Carl Reitzel, En fortegnelse over danske Kunstneres Arbeider paa de ved Det Kgl. Akademi for de skjønne Kunster i Aarene 1807–1882 afholdte Charlottenborg-udstilinger, op. cit. As the title indicates, the inventory contained only Danish artists exhibiting at Charlottenborg, and those included Johan Christian Dahl (born in Norway when Denmark and Norway were still united) and Adolph Tidemand (born in 1814, the year of separation).
- 24.
Steen Bo Frandsen, Opdagelsen af Jylland: den regionale dimension i Danmarkshistorien 1814–1864 (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1995). The National Liberal politician Orla Lehmann described his experiences in Jutland in the text ‘Min Reise som Regjeringskommissær i Jylland 1848‘, in Hother Hage (ed.), Orla Lehmanns efterladte Skrifter (Kjøbenhavn: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1873), pp. 249–302.
- 25.
Important markers of the changing position of landscape painting include Eckersberg’s suite of landscapes from the cliff at Møn and the garden surrounding Liselund castle. A few years later, in 1815, Jens Peter Møller became a member of the Academy on the strength of his Landskab med parti fra egnen ved Vordingborg med udsigt mod Møn. Never before had a landscape been the subject of a reception piece, allowing the artist access to the Academy.
- 26.
Bricka, Fonden, vol. 3, p. 308.
- 27.
It must be noted, however, that the present investigation is based on an exploration of the artist’s known, publicly owned works, as identified in the Art Index of Denmark database (www.kid.dk; last accessed 8 March 2017) and The Danish National Art Library. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility of works in private ownership depicting different motifs than those found in my preliminary investigations. Should such works exist – for instance, depicting western Jutland – it might suggest that Harder’s motifs from these areas were not received favourably by the art establishment or the general public. Hence, at the annual Charlottenborg exhibitions, Harder mainly exhibited works depicting motifs from Sorø, where he spent his professional life at the Academy as a teacher in drawing, as well as from Vordingborg, Funen, and Kolding. That all of these motifs could qualify as ‘the most beautiful areas in Denmark’, and as more of them were executed after a scholarship award in 1820, suggests that his project was actually realised.
- 28.
For instance, works such as The coast near Aarhus, 1838 (oil on paper, mounted on plywood, 20.3 × 28.8 cm, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, inv. 605); A view from Silkeborg morning light, 1838 (oil on canvas, 36.5 × 48.7 cm, private collection); Landscape near Silkeborg, Jutland, c.1838 (oil on cardboard, 24.5 × 33.5 cm, National Gallery of Denmark, inv. 6890); and Landscape from the Himmelbjerg district, c.1838 (oil on canvas, 30 × 38 cm, private collection). However, it was not until 1839 that Dreyer exhibited a motif from Jutland: the painting A view towards Himmelbjerget, Jutland. Evening, 1838 (oil on canvas, 95 × 126 cm, National Gallery of Denmark, inv. 355). For information about these various paintings, see Susanne Ludvigsen, Maleren Dankvart Dreyer, vol. 2 (Copenhagen: Vandkunsten, 2008).
- 29.
Christen Købke was amongst the artists who visited Aarhus in 1829. During his stay, he painted an interior from the Cathedral: The Transept of Aarhus Cathedral, 1830 (oil on canvas, 48.5 × 34 cm, National Gallery of Denmark, inv. KMS1345). The motif was reproduced as an engraving and was thus available for duplication. In 1829, another drawing followed: View from the river in Aarhus, 1829 (drawing, National Gallery of Denmark, inv. KKSgb2942).
- 30.
It is commonly assumed that exhibitions at Charlottenborg were restricted to paintings and sculptures, and these two genres were certainly the most numerous. However, the overall picture of what could be exhibited needs to be nuanced, because both architecture (in terms of drawings) as wells as ornaments, porcelain painting, drawings, xylography (and various other graphical techniques), and crafts (various items for the home), were exhibited at Charlottenborg from time to time. However, all these genres constituted only a minor part of the total exhibitions.
- 31.
The interest in Scott’s novels was a broad European phenomenon. See, for example, Franco Moretti, Atlas of the European Novel 1800–1900 (London: Verso Books, 2011 [1998]), pp. 141–97; and Murray Pittock (ed.), The Reception of Walter Scott in Europe (London: Bloomsbury, 2007).
- 32.
Of course, it is possible that Rørbye was familiar with the original version, but the close temporal overlap suggests that he was made aware of Scott’s book by the Danish translation. There is no information extant on Rørbye’s proficiency in English, but generally the vast majority of educated people were more familiar with German and French. For further information on this topic, see Henny Glarbo, Danske i England (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1956). It should also be noted that none of the three auctions of Rørbye’s estate – held in 1849, 1860, and 1872 – contained any titles by Walter Scott. However, this does not mean that Rørbye did not own some of Scott’s works; they could have been passed on to relatives instead of being included in the auctions, or Rørbye might have borrowed them from some of the many rental libraries that became increasingly popular in Denmark from the 1750s onwards. He did, however, own the collected works of Bernhard Severin Ingemann, which were sold at the auction in 1860.
- 33.
Old Mortality was first published in Danish in 1824, under the title Den gamle Gravmand. En Fortælling.
- 34.
The estate auction catalogue from 1849 indicates that Rørbye made a drawing from Old Mortality in 1826. The section headed ‘Original compositions in sephia, lettering pen and pencil’ includes a drawing entitled Scene af Walter Scots [sic] ‘den gamle Gravmand’ [Scene from Walter Scots novel Old Mortality].
- 35.
See Nielsen, Den samtidige engelske litteratur, pp. 253–5.
- 36.
See Beth S. Wright, ‘Seeing with the Painter’s Eye: Sir Walter Scott’s Challenge to Nineteenth-Century Art’, in Pittock (ed.), Reception, p. 297.
- 37.
Ibid.
- 38.
N. L. Høyen, ‘Nogle Bemærkninger over de paa Charlottenborg udstillede Konstsager’, in J. L. Ussing (ed.), N. L. Høyens samlede Skifter (Copenhagen: Selskabet for Nordisk Konst, 1871), vol 1., p. 68 (my translation).
- 39.
See Nielsen, Den samtidige engelske litteratur, pp. 78–9.
- 40.
Quoted from Georg Nygaard (ed.), Maleren Martinus Rørbyes Rejsedagbog 1830 (Copenhagen: Kunstforeningen, 1930), p. 20 (translation by Charlotte Lund).
- 41.
Quoted from Nielsen, Den samtidige engelske litteratur, p. 299 (my translation)
- 42.
Molbech, ‘Optegnelser på en udflugt til Jylland i sommeren 1829‘, op. cit., pp. 141–2 (translation by Charlotte Lund).
- 43.
See Jørn Guldberg, ‘Danmark som billede’, in Getrud Oelsner and Iben Overgaard (eds.), Udsigt til guldalderen (Maribo and Viborg: Storstrøms Kunstmuseum and Skovgaard Museet, 2005), p. 66.
- 44.
Quoted from Nygaard, p. 22 (translation by Charlotte Lund).
- 45.
Quoted from Nygaard, p. 44 (translation by Charlotte Lund).
- 46.
Nevertheless, the sublime character of this landscape was more understated than in Caspar David Friedrich’s works. Thus, it is a relational experience; compared to the Zealand landscape the Jutland landscape appeared sublime, but compared to foreign landscapes, the landscapes might also be described as a subdued version of the sublime. Something suggests, therefore, that the assessment ‘sublime’ bears witness to Molbech and speaks to a contemporary aesthetic debate.
- 47.
Quoted from Nygaard, p. 53 (my translation)
- 48.
H. C. Andersen, O.T. (Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1836), pp. 14–15.
- 49.
Bricka, Fonden, vol. 3, p. 80 (my translation).
- 50.
Ibid.
- 51.
Ibid.
- 52.
The National Danish Archives, inv. 00928. It is worth noting that Høyen himself designated this undertaking an archeological journey, although the files in Fonden ad usus publicos refer to it as an art-historical journey.
- 53.
See Nygaard, p. 63.
- 54.
Both agreed that Randers had not much to offer, and both were accommodated by the inn-keeper Rydell, who lived just by the stagecoach stop between Aarhus and Randers. See Jørgen Smidt-Jensen, ‘Randers på H. C. Andersens tid’, Kulturhistorisk Museum Randers Årbog (Randers: Randers Kulturhistorisk Museum, 2005).
- 55.
Letter from Høyen of 15 September 1830, quoted from J. L. Ussing, Niels Laurits Høyens Levned med Bilag af Breve, second section (Copenhagen: Samfundet til den danske Litteraturs Fremme, 1872), p. 51 (my translation). I would like to thank Hans Hertel for alerting me to this reference.
- 56.
Ibid., p. 53 (my translation).
- 57.
Ibid., p. 54 (my translation).
- 58.
Henrik Bjerre, ‘En historie om Lundbyes Jyllandsrejse i 1836‘, in Hanne Jönsson (ed.), De lyse sale. Festskrift til Bente Skovgaard (Copenhagen: Chr. Ejlers Forlag, 1990), pp. 86–96.
- 59.
Ibid., p. 90 (my translation).
- 60.
The reference is to Orla Lehmann (1810), a National Liberal politician and art collector, then living in Vejle, whose home was a meeting place for many of the artists to whom he gave commissions. Skovgaard’s letter is held in the archives of the Skovgaard Museum (translation by James Manley).
- 61.
Edvard Erslev, Den danske Stat, en almindelig geographisk Skildring or Folket (Copenhagen: Kittendorff & Aagaards Forlag, 1855–1857), p. 86 (translation by Charlotte Lund).
- 62.
The exceptions being the portrait which Rørbye made of his uncle, Gerhard Faye (1760–1845), whom he visited in Thisted, and a painting with a motif from the market in Viborg.
- 63.
In 1848, Rørbye exhibited his most ambitious motifs from Jutland: Mænd af Skagen, en Sommeraften i godt Vejr, purchased by The National Gallery of Denmark in 1848; and Strandingskommissionen ved Vestkysten af Jylland, ownership unknown. In 1834, however, Rørbye had shown two motifs from Northern Jutland: The Beach at Gammel Skagen with Storm Clouds gathering, now in the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek; and Fishermen at Limfjorden, private collection. All of these works were genre paintings rather than simply landscapes.
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Oelsner, G. (2017). Inventing Jutland for the ‘Golden Age’: Danish Artists Guided by Sir Walter Scott. In: Duffy, C. (eds) Romantic Norths. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51246-4_5
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