A Group of Danish Artists in Rome
Constantin Hansen (Danish, 1804–1880)
1837
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 62 cm, width 74 cm, height 71.8 cm, width 84.9 cm
- Culture
- Danish
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
A group of Danish artists are gathered in a room in Rome. But not in celebration. Their purpose is far more serious: they are talking about art. In the middle of the floor, the architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll talks about his travels in Greece. Perhaps Constantin Hansen wished to distance himself from the general expectation of jolly tourist images. Perhaps he wished to accentuate the artists’ self-image as serious intellectual workers. The sombre tone makes the painting stand apart from the many carefree depictions of Italian life that Danish audiences preferred. However, Hansen was inspired by Renaissance depictions of artists and prepared for the work by painting studies of the party. L to R: The artist, Gottlieb Bindesbøll, Martinue Rørbye, Wilhelm Marstrand, Albert Küchler, Ditlev Blunck, and Jørgen Sonne.
