L. A. Ring (b. Ring 1854, d. Roskilde 1933)
“Interiør fra et Skomagerværksted. En Mand, siddende en face tilhøjre, læser Socialdemokraten for to andre, der sidde i Skjorteærmer ved et Bord; den ene, i Baggrunden, set forfra, den anden, en ung Svend, set fra højre Side. Den sidste holder sin Shagpibe til Munden”. Interior from a cobbler's workshop. A man, sitting en face to the right, reads Socialdemokraten to two others, who are sitting in shirt-sleeves at a table; one, in the background, seen from the front, the other, a young journeyman, seen from the right side. The last one is holding his shagpipe to his mouth. Signed and dated L.A. Ring 1885. Oil on canvas laid on canvas. 23×30 cm.
H. Chr. Christensen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of L.A. Ring, the supplement 1922, no. 836.
Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, “Arbejder af L.A. Ring udstillede i Den Frie Udstillings Bygning”, 1924 no. 29. Charlottenborg, “Mindeudstillingen for L. A. Ring”, 1933 no. 31. Kunstforeningen, “L.A. Ring”, 1953 no. 9.
Literature: Peter Hertz, “Maleren L.A. Ring”, 1934, ill. p. 143, mentioned pp. 142–146.
Provenance: Merchant Theodor Jensen (1922, 1924). His wife Elisabeth Jensen (1953). Their auction Bruun Rasmussen 154, 1963 no. 61, ill. p. 55. Bruun Rasmussen auction 243, 1970 no. 30, ill. p. 46. The collection of Gregers and Dita Kirk, their auction Bruun Rasmussen 593, 1993 no. 13, ill. p. 12. Bruun Rasmussen auction 703, 2001 no. 83.
The present painting is a variation on a larger painting from 1885 entitled “Et besøg. Skomagerværksted” (A Visit to a Cobbler’s Workshop) (The National Gallery of Denmark, Inv. No. KMS7380). Apart from the size, there are minor differences in the composition between the two paintings. The painting at the National Gallery of Denmark is an evening picture, and the kerosene lamp has therefore been moved from the windowsill onto the table, and the three depicted people, who are not completely identical between the works either, sit in the glow of the lamplight instead of the daylight, that falls in from the window, but otherwise the overall composition including the position of the figures, the wall and window section and the interior of the workshop is the same.
The painting at the National Gallery of Denmark is described in ”L.A. Ring. På kanten af verden”, the National Gallery of Denmark, 2006, as follows (in Danish): ”Just as Ring had moved to Copenhagen from the province, a friend from his native place had become a cobbler's apprentice in Lille Regnegade. Outside working hours, he repaired Ring's footwear, and the impressions from the workshop were in 1885 transformed into ‘A Visit to a Cobbler’s Workshop'. The painting is from the time when the public debate culminated during council president Estrup's temporary laws, and Ring was linked to a group of politically active young people [...]“ and as follows: “the two cobbler's apprentices have been visited by a social democratic agitator who is about to explain his party's position on the great political issues of the time.” (“L.A. Ring. På kanten af verden”, 2006, pp. 222, 23).
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