
Collection Online as of August 11, 2022
(Danish, 1783-1853)
Graphite, pen and black and gray ink, and brush and gray wash on wove paper
Sheet: 18.5 x 31.5 cm (7 5/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2020.225
not on view
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg is known for initiating Danish painting’s Golden Age—a period of cultural efflorescence during the first half of the 19th century. Marine subjects were among the artist’s favorite, and the primary focus of his work beginning in the 1820s. Dating from this period, this drawing depicts Russian ships viewed from a fortress in Copenhagen’s harbor. In his journal, Eckersberg described making the trip to see the fleet with friends and waiting for the waters to become calm enough for sailing. To convey this experience, he juxtaposed precise perspective of the landscape with expressively rendered clouds.