The Slotskirken of Christiansborg, Copenhagen

c. 1850s

Heinrich Hansen

(Danish, 1821–1890)

Culture

Denmark

Medium

oil on fabric

Measurements

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.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1995.66

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Location

Not on view

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).