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As a pupil of Eckersberg, Christen Købke (1810–1848) learnt how to create air and space around a figure and enhance the illusion of reality by using bright daylight. He used this knowledge in his Portrait of the Landscape Painter Frederik Sødring.
The picture was signed on Købke's 22nd birthday, 26 May 1832, and was given as a token of friendship to Sødring himself on his 23rd birthday five days later. At the time, the two artists shared a studio in Toldbodvej, the present-day Esplanaden in Copenhagen. Sødring wears his fine brocade waistcoat, but nevertheless sits casually and at ease, interrupted for a moment his work at the
easel glimpsed in the mirror. |
The artistic ideals of the age – i.e. studies of nature and Classical Antiquity – are discreetly presented by the copperplate engravings on the wall behind him: a cow in the tradition of Dutch animal painting hangs near images of ancient Roman architecture. The portrait of Sødring relates to a number of portraits of artists which the students of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen painted during the 1820s and 1830s.
The picture's immediate, luminous freshness and delicate, restrained colour scheme has made it one of the most important works of Danish Golden Age painting. |
