902/​13

C. W. Eckersberg (b. Blåkrog near Aabenraa 1783, d. Copenhagen 1853)

View from Holms Plads (Holm's Place). Unsigned. Dated 22. August 1830. Drawing ink, pencil and wash on paper. Sheet size 21.5×21 cm.

Eckersberg writes in his diary on Sunday 22 August 1830 (in Danish): “Drew a view of Holm's Square, and Mr Kloss was there. The clouds today were exceedingly beautiful and of a character entirely their own.”

Although the clouds mentioned are not easy to make out in the drawing, you can sense the outline of them on the left side above the roofs of the warehouses.

Holm's Square was located in the area around Christianskirken in Christianshavn.

Throughout most of his life, Eckersberg had a great passion for ships and sailing, but it was not until the 1830s and 40s that marine art became the most dominant genre in his oeuvre.

Harbour areas were obvious places to study the ships more closely, and from the 1820s and 1830s, Eckersberg was a frequent visitor to several of Copenhagen's wharves. Instead of depicting the places on a busy working day with shipbuilders and dock workers, it was characteristic of Eckersberg to portray them on a quiet Sunday exactly as in this drawing: “Thereby, the artist could better concentrate on the harbour itself, the houses and the ships and the differences between them in terms of distance and location”. (Peter Michael Hornung and Kasper Monrad, "C. W. Eckersberg – dansk malerkunst fader”, 2005, p. 331).

Other similar drawings from the waterfront of Copenhagen include “View from Wilder's Square in Christianshavn towards Gammelholm with the ropewalk and the stocks for frigates” (National Gallery of Denmark inv. no. KKSgb4216), which was painted the exact same month and year as the present drawing, and “Anchors on Larsen's Square” (National Gallery of Denmark inv. no. KKS417) from a few years later in 1838.

Condition

Condition report on request.

Additional Remarks

Please note: The item is subject to the Anti-Money Laundering Act. In the event of a hammer price of DKK 50,000 or more, including buyer’s premium, the buyer must submit a copy of a valid photo ID and proof of address in order to collect the item.

Auction

Paintings and drawings, 1 June 2021

Category
Estimate

100,000–150,000 DKK

Sold

Price realised

200,000 DKK