The Garden Steps Leading to the Artist's Studio on Blegdammen, Copenhagen

About this work

While travelling in Italy Købke achieved a much greater degree of painterly freedom in his studies than before, particularly in his painted studies from Capri (right). These images have a sketch-like quality not found in other Danish painters. Købke’s new style of painting had a knock-on effect on the studies done near his home on Blegdammen after his return from Italy. In the painting of the garden steps he evinces an unheard-of boldness in his choice of motif and angle – and in his cropping of the scene. We barely get an impression of the house; the gnarly tree by the steps is the key element of the painting together with the beautifully observed sunlight hitting the façade and tree, falling in through a window and upon the open door. The painting has no parallel in Danish art of the period.