Description
Among the many important neoclassical buildings erected in Copenhagen during the 1800s was the Slotskirke or royal chapel, completed in 1826. Heinrich Hansen painted this sober, quiet view of the chapel's interior, carefully rendering its delicate shadows and patches of sunlight. Probably inspired by 17th-century Dutch paintings of church interiors, the artist accurately portrayed many of the building's features. The angels in the pendentives (the triangular areas beneath the circular dome) were carved by the great Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1768-1884).
Provenance
Simon Dickinson, Ltd., London. Purchased by the CMA on 4 December 1995.
Accession Number
1995.66
Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
Framed: 48.5 x 44 x 2.5 cm (19 1/8 x 17 5/16 x 1 in.); Unframed: 35.4 x 31.4 cm (13 15/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund