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Russian art

At auction No. 706 you will find several works by Russian painters, including Victor Alexandrovich Orlov, Tatjana Yenikeyeva and Alexander Nicolajevich Averin. They all paint in a post-romanticist style, reminiscent of Russian art in the second half of the 19th century –many Russian works of art from this period have perished due to revolution and civil war. Among the painters represented at this auction, Averin merits special attention. He was born in 1952 in Noginsk, just outside Moscow. He was trained at the art school Souvenir de l’An in Moscow, where he studied under Dmitri Yoroetnov. Averin takes his motifs from nature, for example in his native part of the country, as is the case in the evocative painting that is offered for sale at this auction: "By the River Klazma", estimated at DKK 8,000 – 10,000.

Portraits

The more curious items include a portrait of an old man with a taste for distilled spirits, depicting the Norwegian sailor Christian Jacobsen Drackenberg who allegedly reached an age of no less than 146 years! He became quite famous due to his extreme age and was therefore portrayed by countless painters, including Carl Gustaf Pilo. Drackenberg's age, in addition to his extrovert, frank and outspoken personality, made him a cherished guest at many Danish manors, and he was also granted a royal pension. According to one of the many anecdotes about him, Drackenberg is supposed to have offered the following answer to a question from King Frederik V of Denmark on his longevity: "For the last hundred years, at least, I don't recall having gone to bed without being comfortably drunk" The present portrait was painted by Mogens Christian Thrane (1697-1764) who descended from a long line of painters. Thrane did portraits as well as ecclesiastical art. He executed the portrait of Drackenberg several times, and replicas of this painting are located in The National Museum of Urban Culture in Aarhus and at Bergen Museum. This painting is estimated at DKK 5,000 – 7,000.

Also worthy of mention among the portraits are Kristian Zahrtmann's historical sketches from 1872, depicting Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark and Dr. Johann Friedrich Struensee - the physician attending to her royal consort, King Christian VII. Kr. Zahrtmann (1843-1917) is mostly known for his historical paintings, and the present sketches were made in connection to the painting "Scene from the Court of Christian VII" (1873). This painting depicts the deranged king playing with a parrot, while the queen flirts with the royal physician. Thus, it is an instalment of the fate that awaited this trio – the king clouded with increasing disease, the physician beheaded after usurpation of royal power and affair with the queen, and last but not least, the queen banished from court and deported to Celle in Hannover for her infidelity to the king and for having given birth to the royal physician's daughter. Indeed, one almost senses the three evil fates in Kr. Zahrtmann's sketches of the queen (Lot 618) and the royal physician, estimated at DKK 10,000 and DKK 4,000 – 6,000, respectively.

Coastal sceneries

The highly varied Danish shoreline of about 7,500 kilometres have fascinated all sorts of painters throughout the ages, but the paintings that are the result of this fascination are just as varied and diverse and as the Danish coastal scenes themselves. The painters who preferred renditions of light gathered in the Northern part of Denmark, and painters who were drawn towards the raw landscape and the grandeur of the North Sea went west, whereas the coasts of Oresund offered painters quiet and romantic sceneries. Several of the paintings included in this auction have highly characteristic motifs, while other works are atypical for the painter in question. This is the case for Harald Pryn (1891-1968) who is known for his winter's motifs. At the auction we offer a rare coastal scene by Pryn – "Scene from Masnedsund" at an estimate of DKK 8,000 – 10,000. More typical coastal scenes include a Hirtshals motif by Christian Blache (1838-1920) – a storm rolling across Western Jutland with a dramatic sky and white wave crests at an estimate of DKK 10,000 – 12,000. The same painter is also represented by a view from Kalundborg Inlet that presents us with the other side of nature. It bears the title "Towards Evening Overlooking Asnæs. Kalundborg", and it depicts a summer's day at the very moment when the sun breaks through the clouds and into the almost completely calm waters. This painting is estimated at DKK 6,000. The auction also offers foreign coastal sceneries, as painted by for example the Danish painter C.F. Sørensen (18181-1879). He visited Iceland in 1874 and depicted this island in strong colours as is evident in the painting offered for sale here – slightly reddish rocks and, further back, the still water with a passing dinghy, while the mountains can be seen dimly on the horizon. The painting is estimated at DKK 12,000 – 15,000.

Seascapes

Auction No. 706 features a fine selection of seascapes as well, most notable, perhaps, Vilhelm Melbye's (1824-1882) painting "Danish Man-Of-War under Spanish Coast". V. Melbye probably made this painting some time between 1851 and 1853 when he visited Spain as part of his travels in Europe. The painting is characteristic of Melbye's seascapes that are often embedded in the visual universe of Romanticism – a Danish liner riding at anchor in the evening sun near a bay and surrounded by several smaller sailing ships with the lateen sails that are so characteristic of the Mediterranean. V. Melbye studied under his brother Anton Melbye and attended The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen 1844-1847. Furthermore, he was trained in the art of maritime perspective by Carl Dahl who had learned a lot from C.W. Eckersberg. The present painting derives from the sale of Melbye's effects after his death, and it is estimated at DKK 10,000 – 15,000. Other fine seascapes include a classic by Johan Neumann (1860-1940) – an overdoor with sailing ships along the coast of the Oresund at Kronborg Castle. Frederik II's Renaissance castle was one of Neumann's favourite landscape features and he would often use it in his paintings. To sailors, who had been away from home for a long time, this castle was an emotional charged symbol, since "Kronborg to starboard" was a sign of impending homecoming. Neumann took private lessons from his uncle, the marine painter Carl Neumann. Neumann's motifs are in high demand, not least because of his presentable and precise, but also simple nautical style .The present painting is estimated at DKK 15,000 – 20,000.

The department of older paintings wishes you a good time at online auction No. 706.

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