Sunshine in an Interior

1920

Peter Vilhelm Ilsted

(Danish, 1861–1933)

Culture

Denmark

Medium

mezzotint

Measurements

Sheet: 59.2 x 49.4 cm (23 5/16 x 19 7/16 in.); Platemark: 40.9 x 38 cm (16 1/8 x 14 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Carole W. and Charles B. Rosenblatt Endowment Fund 2001.58

Catalogue raisonné

Olufsen & Svensson 39

Edition

150 in black and white and 75 in color

Impression

You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Peter Vilhelm Ilsted and his brother-in-law, the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi, pioneered a style of Danish art that was characterized by quiet interior scenes in muted colors.

Description

Peter Vilhelm Ilsted was one of only a few artists of his time to take up mezzotint, the printmaking technique used here. The process involved a tonal reversal—with the artist working from dark to light—that allowed Ilsted to render evocative and moody interiors. Like this print, most of his works were inhabited by young women seen from behind or in profile and involved in introspection or study. The subject of this work appears in darkness at the far side of the image, just beyond a patch of dramatic sunlight that enters the space and perhaps suggests her distance from the outside world.