Langebro, Copenhagen, in the Moonlight with Running Figures
C.W. Eckersberg (Danish, 1783–1853)
1836
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 45.5 cm, width 33.5 cm, height 55.8 cm, width 43.6 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
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
Why do all these people come running? Has someone fallen in the water, or is there a fire? In his diary Eckersberg simply described the picture as “a small painting showing a moonlit night by the full moon. The subject is Langebro with running figures.” Perhaps he deliberately played on the fact that many of the exhibition guests of the day would have read Carl Bernhardt’s novel THE COACH from that same year; its dramatic high point takes place on Langebro when a young woman wishes to drown herself, but is saved by the male protagonist. Here, Eckersberg has tried out all his ideas about space, structure, and light and shadow in a painting. Thus, it reflects the principles that he passed on to his Academy students. Yet he also created an enigmatic scene, keeping its story secret.
