Thorvaldsens Museum, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Martinus Rørbye, 1981, no. 241.

Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, “Fortegnelse over M. Rørbyes arbejder”, 1905 no. 167. Kunstforeningen, “Arbejder af M. Rørbye”, 1930 no. 56. “Udstillingen af dansk Malerkunst i Flensborg Bys Museum”, 1948 no. 128. “Akademiets jubilæum, Charlottenborg. Dansk kunst gennem 200 år. Maleri. Skulptur. Arkitektur. Grafik”, 1954 no. 61. Aarhus Kunstmuseum, “Jylland i dansk Kunst”, 1956 no. 201, ill. 53. Thorvaldsens Museum, “Martinus Rørbye 1803–1848”, 1981 no. 142.

Literature: Eva Henschen, “Rørbye og Jylland” in the exhibition catalogue “Martinus Rørbye 1803–1848”, Thorvaldsens Museum 1981, mentioned and ill. p. 201. Here, the painting is described as follows (in Danish): “Like a gigantic and powerless Gulliver surrounded by the little people, she lies here, Ann Sunderland. And on Skagen, Rørbye has painted her, whether he himself has thrown sand into the paint for effect, or the wind has blown it up on the canvas”. Since the grains of sand are primarily located where the sandy beach actually is in the painting, could one not imagine that Rørbye himself placed the grains of sand in the wet paint?

Elisabeth Fabricius, “Martinus Rørbye og Skagen” in the exhibition catalogue “Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne”, Øregaard Museum, Skovgaard Museet, Nivaagaards Malerisamling & Ribe Kunstmuseum, 2014, mentioned p. 127, ill. p. 123, fig. 88.

Provenance: The estate auction of Martinus Rørbye 1849 no. 73. Chamberlain R. Krag (1905). Official in the government (ekspeditionssekretær) C. G. R. Fenger (1930, 1948, 1954, 1956).

Skagen is not just stormy weather with storms of hurricane-like force and strong fishermen going into lifeboats; but also warm quiet summer days on the beach, like here, where the fishermen work at the big ship hull “Ann Sunderland”. The title indicates that the ship is under caulking, or explaining it in another way, that the ship is under sealing with material, consisting of scratched up rope or bluing. It has been pointed out that it cannot be the right description of what actually is going on. It is not likely that such a large hull would be placed on the beach to be sealed. It is more likely that the hull or wreck is in the process of being cut up for timber.

In the article “Martinus Rørbye og Skagen”, Elisabeth Fabricius gives a detailed explanation of the motif. The schooner “Ann” of Sunderland was shipwrecked on Skagen Reef on 27 Nov. 1846. The ship's cargo of wheat was salvaged and sold during December. The wreck itself was sold on 31 December and towed away from Grenen and westwards. According to Elisabeth Fabritius, it was quite likely that Anna Ancher's maternal grandfather, nicknamed “Søren Møllebygger”, was responsible for the dismantling. He owned two sawmills and his accounts show that he had expenses related to the scrapping of the wreck in February and March 1847.

An almost identical drawing, dated Skagen 1847, is at the National Gallery of Denmark (Inv. No. KKSgb6239). This drawing is currently exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, “Beyond the Light”, January 26 - April 16, 2023, and later at The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, “Beyond the Light”, May 23 - August 20, 2023, ill. p. 43 in the catalogue, fig. 23.