For examination, please contact the staff in Lyngby.

Exhibited: The Nivaagaard Collection, “Venskabsportrætter fra Rom”, 2016, Cat. No. 12, mentioned p. 30, ill. p. 30. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, “Lasting Impressions: Etchings and Drawings by Carl Bloch”, 2018.

Provenance: Circolo Scandinavo / Skandinavisk Forening i Rom (Inv. No. A 5).

Before his stay in Italy, Carl Bloch primarily considered himself a genre and portrait painter. However, his interest in history painting was awakened during his time in Rome, particularly through his encounter with Mårten Eskil Winge. The Swedish painter was an active part of Skandinavisk Forening from 1859 to 1863, and along with his colleague Henrik Olrik (1830–1890), he contributed to the decoration of the association's walls. Winge drew much of his inspiration from tales of Nordic mythology. Bloch was captivated by the dramatic and monumental expression that characterized Winge's heroic figure depictions. A fascination, that left its mark on Bloch's works from that period. In Bloch's rediscovered masterpiece “Prometheus' befrielse” (Prometheus' Liberation) from 1864, one can clearly see the inspiration drawn from Winge's “Loke og Sigyn” (Loki and Sygyn) painted the year before.