Exhibited: Bergenholz Art Gallery at Frihedsstøtten (the Liberty Memorial) in Copenhagen.

Provenance: Paul Fischer's estate auction, Winkel & Magnussen 156, 1934 no. 91, reproduced p. 4. Kleis' successor. Mrs E. Th. Grøndahl, Rungsted.

Literature: Steffen Linvald, “Paul Fischer-københavnernes maler” 1984, reproduced p. 71. Helge Carlsen, “Billedmageren Paul Fischer”, 1991, mentioned p. 20 and reproduced p. 21.

In Paul Fischer's festive painting, the Royal Guard dressed in red gala marches through Østergade today also known as Strøget (the pedestrian street), which is adorned with Danish national flags on the occasion of Christian X's birthday on 26 September. In front is Drum Major Laurits Peter Løvgren Lorentzen. To the right of the Royal Guard is the conductor Theodor Christian Marius Lund Dyvig. On the left near the ladder stands Paul Fischer himself, and in the foreground his wife Musse and their daughter Inge can be seen.

The female bystanders are in fashionable clothes. Several of them wearing autumn coats with fur collars and with the characteristic cloche hats pulled down over their ears. The men are elegantly equipped with noble hats. The cap-wearing delivery boys are, of course, also on the move on the King's birthday, and even the smartly dressed guards cannot shake the boys’ confidence. With a cheeky air about them, they walk on ahead with the guards right behind them. In a charming way, Paul Fischer thus draws a precise picture of the decade's people and fashion. Even the layout of the streets and the commercial life of the area are carefully conveyed to the viewer. The small street of Integade on the left hand with A. C. Bang's fur house in the corner building is hard to recognize for someone today. The street disappeared in 1932, when Bremerholm street and the shopping centre Magasin’s public square were established here instead. Paul Fischer's painting from the 1920s thus allows a unique look into a no longer existing architectural past. In spite of changing fashions and the cityscape’s mutability, the painter's birthday greeting to the Danish King first and foremost exudes tradition and recognisability with its flowing national flags and the gala-dressed guards marching in honour of the King's birthday.