Document Actions
4.1 Gerson, Martin, Kramm and Hofstede de Groot
The very first page of the chapter on Denmark in his Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländische Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts makes it clear that Gerson himself spent time in Denmark gathering the material for this part of his book: ‘When one enters Rosenborg Castle […] in Copenhagen today, one is struck by a large number of Flemish landscapes that were included as decoration for the walls of the Winter Room (Vinterstue)’.1 He also mentions elsewhere in the book artworks that he studied closely in their original location.2 Gerson had previously been in contact with such prominent Danish historians and art historians as Otto Andrup (1883-1953) and Karl Madsen (1855-1938). He makes just one mistake in chapter on Denmark, when he locates the church of Nyborg in Copenhagen.3
A contemporary of Gerson, Wilhelm Martin [i], had dismissed the Dutch influence in Denmark in just a few lines in his book on Dutch painting in the 17th century) from 1935, that deals with ‘Our painters abroad’ in chapter 11.4 If we look for another art historian working on Netherlandish art who made the effort to travel to Denmark, we come across Christian Kramm [i]. From his De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders (The lives and works of Dutch and Flemish painters) dating from 1857-1864, it appears that he was in Denmark to view the collection at Christiansborg and the ‘Gallery’ of Count Moltke, among others.5 He also visited Frederiksborg, that he had the good fortune to see in all its glory, before the major fire at the castle in 1859.6 Cornelis Hofstede de Groot [i] journeyed through Scandinavia in 1900. In Denmark, one of the places he visited was Gavnø Castle. Gerson does not mention Kramm in his notes, but he certainly did consult the material that Hofstede de Groot amassed during his trip.
|
|
|
|
Gerson 1983/1942 , p. 453 (in German); see also § 3.2.
Gerson 1983/1942, p. 463, note 1; p. 467, note 3.
Gerson 1983/1942, p. 460.
Martin 1935, pp. 465-466.
Jespersen et al. 2010; North 2012.
Kramms extensive account of paintings and books of Karel van Mander III suggests he visited Denmark (Kramm 1857-1864, vol. 4 [1860], pp. 1055-1056), although there is no specific mention of a trip to the country in his biography in vol. 1, pp. 1-9.
Eller 1971, p. 421.
Bøggild Johannsen 2011, pp. 11-31. The proceedings of the conference ‘Reframing the Danish Renaissance. Problems and Prospects in a European Perspective’ (Copenhagen 2006) give a good insight into the current status of the research on the Renaissance in Denmark.