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The Authoress Emma Kraft
Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann (Danish, 1819–1881)
1859
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 119 cm, width 85.5 cm, height 149.9 cm, width 116.5 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
ENGELSK Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann: The writer Emma Kraft, 1860s, oil on canvas, 119 x 86 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst, KMS3728. After arriving in Denmark in 1849, Jerichau-Baumann became one of the most sought after portrait painters. She portrayed several famous men and women of the era, among others the fairy tale writer H.C. Andersen (1805-75), the politician Orla Lehmann (1810-70) and the actress Johanne Luise Heiberg (1812-90). The portrait of the Danish writer Emma Kraft (1844-1925) is undated, but considering her date of birth and presumed age in the portrait, a qualified estimated dating of the painting would be around 1860-65. In all likelihood, it is a portrait of Emma Kraft in her youth, long before she made her debut as a writer in 1893. Kraft wrote books both for children and adult readers and worked as a translator. Especially her children’s books, such as Mellem Trolde [Among Trolls] illustrated by Louis Moe, are characterized as important contributions to Danish children’s literature. Within the portrait genre, the painting stands out through the convincing materiality in the rendering of the dress and fur as well as the delicate effects of Kraft’s…
