Lot 151: PROPERTY OF A GERMAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR CHRISTEN KØBKE DANISH, 1810-1848 NAKSKOV KIRKE (NAKSKOV

PROPERTY OF A GERMAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR CHRISTEN KØBKE DANISH, 1810-1848 NAKSKOV KIRKE (NAKSKOV CHURCH)

signed and dated C Købke 1841 l.l.

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Dr. Ove Malling, Stubbekøbing (by 1953); thence by descent to the present owner
EXHIBITED

Copenhagen, Kunstforeningen, Christen Købke, 1953, no. 86
CATALOGUE NOTE

Painted in 1841, Købke's choice of the church of Naskov as the central image in the present work affirms his strong Christian beliefs.

Købke often depicted unconventional perspectives in his works, and was fascinated by church spires and rooftops. In the 1830s he had executed a number of views of Frederiksborg Castle and the Copenhagen Citadel, which depicted interesting and unusual angles of these buildings, focusing on their spires. The radical cropping of Nakskov Kirke suggests that Købke painted only what he saw from the vantage point he had chosen for this picture, and this realism and sobriety in the conception of the view are special characteristics of what has been called 'The Copenhagen School'. As Stig Miss has pointed out, 'In [Købke's] small studies we often seem to have a feeling of seeing, together with the artist, just that accidental bit of reality that briefly entered his field of vision. It is similar to the element of chance in a photographic snapshot, with the same fortuitous cuts' (Baltic Light - Early Open-Air Painting in Denmark and North Germany, New Haven & London, 1999, p. 167). Another characteristic of Købke's work of the time is that he used to place blocks of solid colour in the foreground of his compositions, in this case a row of trees, to cut out the view, paradoxically hiding aspects of the painting's subject, the church, with the gate in the lower centre of the composition acting as an invitation to explore what lies behind.

Christen Købke enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen aged twelve, where he studied under Lorentzen and Eckersberg. The fusion of architecture and pictorial art was due in part to a competition announced by the Art Association of Copenhagen in March 1835 with the theme 'A public place or building'. Aimed at increasing the knowledge and awareness of the country's historical buildings, it resulted in architectural studies of historic buildings becoming popular motifs in Danish Golden Age painting.

Nakskov is the largest town on the island of Lolland. The town was granted a municipal charter in 1266 and its centre to this day reflects its original medieval town plan with a square and narrow streets leading to the harbour.

14.3 by 19.5cm., 5 5/8 by 7 5/8 in.