Carl Bille: Seascape with a sailing ship off the coast of Kronborg. Signed and dated Carl Bille 1861. Oil on cardboard. 29.5×49 cm. Estimate: DKK 15,000-20,000.

The Danish Golden Age at Online Auction

Motifs from Southern Europe, Danish landscapes and marines –we now present works by some of the golden age's biggest names with many of their favourite motifs.

At the current Online Auction, you will find a fine selection of artwork from the Danish Golden Age. You can place your bid now, but the auction will only conclude on 3 January at 7 pm here at bruun-rasmussen.dk. Beforehand, you are welcome to stop by our preview at Sundkrogsgade 30 in Copenhagen's Nordhavn and take a closer look at the artwork up for auction. View the opening hours here.

The Danish Golden Age at a Glance

The Danish Golden Age took place during the first half of the 19th century and is characterized by a flourishing art and spiritual life despite the country's great crises during the same period – the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, the loss of the navy and the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, the state bankruptcy in 1813 and the loss of Norway in 1814. The nation’s spirit was in dire need of restauration, and a path to this was through literature and not least the art of painting. Many of the works from this period can be counted among the finest in Danish art history.

Thorald Brendstrup: "Egn ved Duerofloden i Portugal", 1846. View from the Douro River, Portugal. Signed. Oil on canvas. 34.5 x 44.5 cm. Estimate: DKK 12,000-15,000.

Artistic Wanderlust

The father of the Danish Golden Age, C.W. Eckersberg, who is also represented at the auction, influenced an entire generation of Danish artists. They worked with a number of specific motifs, including landscapes, marines, portraits and not least depictions of life in Italy. As part of their artistic education, many travelled to southern Europe to find inspiration and new sun-drenched motifs for their repertoires. Here they created some of the most famous Golden Age works. One of these travelling Golden Age artists was Thorald Brendstrup, who is up for auction with the work "Egn ved Duerofloden i Portugal" (View from the Douro River, Portugal) from 1846. Martinus Rørbye takes us to Italy with the drawing “En kvinde fra Procida” (A woman from Procida) from 1835, while Ernst Meyer lets us visit Rome with the watercolour “En strikketime” (A Knitting Lesson) from 1858.

Martinus Rørbye: A woman from Procida, 1835. Signed. Pencil and watercolour on paper laid on paper. Sheet size 27 x 21.5 cm. Estimate: DKK 20,000.

The Danish Landscape

Landscape painting was one of the most popular genres of the time, and the artists went out into nature with a drawing pad and art supplies to depict the characteristic Danish landscape. The auction offers several works by Vilhelm Kyhn, who was one of the most prolific landscape painters in 19th century Danish art. Based on ideas from national romanticism, he focused on Denmark's landscapes to capture and immortalize all the nation's regions during different seasons, weather and times of the day. P.C. Skovgaard was another of the main figures of the Danish Golden Age, who became especially known for his magnificent depictions of the Danish landscape, and he is also represented at the auction.

Vilhelm Kyhn: View from Ise Fjord, Zealand, 1865. Signed. Oil on canvas. 34 x 45 cm. Estimate: DKK 15,000-20,000.

P.C. Skovgaard: Landscape from Knabstrup on a summer day, 1871. Signed. Oil on canvas. 33.5 x 46.5 cm. Estimate: DKK 20,000-25,000.

National Fervour at Sea

The sea and ships were also popular motifs. In Denmark, the marines were partly an artistic reaction to the loss of the Danish navy to the British after the bombing of Copenhagen in 1807. While the king's navy was lost, the merchant fleet could continue largely unchanged and even grew larger during the following years. It was this merchant fleet and the accompanying nationalistic mood at sea and along the coasts that several Danish artists became preoccupied with during the 19th century. At the auction you can bid on marines by artists such as Carl Bille and Anton Melbye.