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

- By: Christen Købke (Danish, 1810–1848)
- Date: 1841-1844
- Medium: Oil on paper, mounted on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: height 22.5 cm, width 33 cm, height 37.2 cm, width 46.1 cm
- Culture: Danish
- Museum: [SMK – National Gallery of Denmark](https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMS6605)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iip-thumb.smk.dk/iiif/jp2/7w62fc23r_KMS6605.TIF.jp2/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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.