A Brig under Sail in fair Weather (En Brig under selj i godt vejr)

(Christoffer Wilheim Eckersberg)

This compact and luminous seascape is not simply a momentary impression rapidly sketched nor a mere reproduction of reality. Rather, recent studies have shown that the special character of Eckersberg’s marine paintings is the result of long deliberation and a carefully planned structure which originated in Italian Renaissance art theory, ‘when the maniera grande was created and the subtle geometric rules for the construction of the picture and the structure of the pictorial space were devised’ (Erik Fischer).

Nothing about the painting has been left to chance. The degree of complexity, the dimensions of the canvas, the size and position of the ships on the sea all play their parts in a precisely calculated composition – as do the clouds, the waves and each nuance of colour. It has only recently been realised that Eckersberg made use of his wide knowledge of perspective to do more than merely reproduce the physical world. In an article on ‘Eckersberg’s harmonious Universe’ (summarised in C.W.Eckersberg, His Mind and Times) Erik Fischer shows that ,while fulfilling his official duties as portrait and history painter and professor, the artist made use of perspective and the golden section to create an ideal pictorial world which he kept largely secret. Eckersberg started from Plato’s belief that the world as perceived by our senses is only a copy of ‘ideas’ or ‘forms’ which constitute the true reality and also from the theory developed by the Neo-platonic philosophers that in creating a work of art the artist imitates the ‘form’ directly. He painted many apparently realistic works, including some notable seascapes, in which he strove to demonstrate the divine reality which lies beyond visual appearances. A Brig under Sail in fair Weather, painted quite late in the artist’s life, is a distinguished example of this.

PROVENANCE: The auction of the artist’s estate, 1854, no. 51; Mrs. Frederick Winther; Collection of Director Holger Hirschsprung; Winkel & Magnussen, Auction 339, 1947, no. 3; Hans Tobiesen; Winkel & Magnussen, Auction 388, 1954, no. 9

LITERATURE: Eckersberg’s Daybook 17.7.1844 (began the painting); Eckersberg’s Daybook 19.2.1845 (finished the painting); Emil Hannover, Maleren C. W. Eckersberg, Copenhagen, 1898, no. 582; Erik Fischer, C.W.Eckersberg, His Mind and Times, Copenhagen, 1993.

EXHIBITED: Kunstforeningen, 1895, no. 319.