Description
Among the many important neoclassical buildings erected in Copenhagen during the 1800s was the Slotskirke or royal chapel, completed in 1826. Heinrich Hansen painted this sober, quiet view of the chapel's interior, carefully rendering its delicate shadows and patches of sunlight. Probably inspired by 17th-century Dutch paintings of church interiors, the artist accurately portrayed many of the building's features. The angels in the pendentives (the triangular areas beneath the circular dome) were carved by the great Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1768-1884).
Provenance
Simon Dickinson, Ltd., London. Purchased by the CMA on 4 December 1995.
Accession Number
1995.66
Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
Framed: 48.5 x 44 x 2.5 cm (19 1/8 x 17 5/16 x 1 in.); Unframed: 35.4 x 31.4 cm (13 15/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Danish
Background & Context
Background Story
Heinrich Hansen (1821-1890) was a Danish painter known for the precisely observed, elegantly composed architectural paintings that make him one of the most accomplished architectural painters of the Danish tradition. The Slotskirken of Christiansborg, Copenhagen from c. 1850s depicts the Slotskirken (castle church) of Christiansborg in Copenhagen in the precisely observed, elegantly composed manner that distinguishes Hansen's best work from the more general architectural painting of his contemporaries. Hansen was known for his precisely observed, elegantly composed paintings of Danish architectural interiors that capture the grandeur and detail of the buildings with remarkable precision, and the c. 1850s painting shows the Danish architectural painting tradition at its most accomplished.
Cultural Impact
The Slotskirken of Christiansborg, Copenhagen is important in the history of Danish painting because it demonstrates the precisely observed, elegantly composed manner that Hansen brought to architectural painting as one of the most accomplished architectural painters of the Danish tradition. Hansen's precisely observed, elegantly composed paintings of Danish architectural interiors—capturing the grandeur and detail of the buildings with remarkable precision—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in Danish architectural painting, and the c. 1850s painting shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
The Slotskirken of Christiansborg, Copenhagen is Hansen's precisely observed Danish architectural painting: the castle church of Christiansborg rendered in the elegantly composed manner of one of the most accomplished architectural painters of the Danish tradition. The c. 1850s painting shows Danish architectural interiors at their most precisely observed.
![Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/e6890364-4d99-4684-a62b-5060ee3c3446/full/400,/0/default.jpg)
