C.W. Eckersberg (1783–1853)
The Longchamp Gate in the Bois-de-Boulogne, 1812
Oil on canvas
33 x 40 cm
Inventory number 16/1969
In 1810, C.W. Eckersberg set out on a long sojourn abroad. His first stop was Paris, where he settled for three years. Although his ambitions to work with history painting were the main factor governing his choice of work in the French capital, he also allowed himself to be enthusiastic about the city, its spaces and its street life. Together with his friend and roommate, Danish landscape painter J.P. Møller (1783–1854), he went on excursions in Paris and the surrounding area. He took a sketchbook with him, recording his observations of landscape, architecture and the locals. The studies were later used as the basis for paintings and there is little to suggest that Eckersberg painted out of doors at this point in time.1
In his diary, Eckersberg noted that he went on a trip to the Bois de Boulogne and the town of Neuilly on 7 June 1812. Presumably it was on this trip that he found the subject of The Longchamp Gate in the Bois-de-Boulogne, with its light and colours heavily redolent with summer.2 Eckersberg has obviously adhered to the classical principle of composition which dictates that a painting should be delimited and closed off at the sides. He has also narrowed the view of the landscape with Mont Calvaire in the background, thereby ensuring that the strolling – and, incidentally, quite ordinary – couple in the foreground catches our attention.
Eckersberg did only a few landscapes and architectural scenes during his time in Paris. The Longchamp Gate in the Bois-de-Boulogne is one of four prospects from Paris that Eckersberg created on commission from collectors back home in Denmark. This particular piece was made for astronomer and former chancellor of the University of Copenhagen, justice Thomas Bugge (1740–1815), who furthermore received a pendant, The Aqueduct in Arcueil, which The David Collection also owns today (4/2020).
In his diary, Eckersberg noted that he went on a trip to the Bois de Boulogne and the town of Neuilly on 7 June 1812. Presumably it was on this trip that he found the subject of The Longchamp Gate in the Bois-de-Boulogne, with its light and colours heavily redolent with summer.2 Eckersberg has obviously adhered to the classical principle of composition which dictates that a painting should be delimited and closed off at the sides. He has also narrowed the view of the landscape with Mont Calvaire in the background, thereby ensuring that the strolling – and, incidentally, quite ordinary – couple in the foreground catches our attention.
Eckersberg did only a few landscapes and architectural scenes during his time in Paris. The Longchamp Gate in the Bois-de-Boulogne is one of four prospects from Paris that Eckersberg created on commission from collectors back home in Denmark. This particular piece was made for astronomer and former chancellor of the University of Copenhagen, justice Thomas Bugge (1740–1815), who furthermore received a pendant, The Aqueduct in Arcueil, which The David Collection also owns today (4/2020).
Published in
Published in
Fortegnelse over de ved det Kongelige Maler-, Billedhugger- og Bygnings-Academie udstillede Kunstsager, København 1814, no. 14;
Philip Weilbach: Maleren Eckersbergs Levned og Værker, København 1872, pp. 215-216;
Udstillingen af C.W. Eckersberg’s Malerier i Kunstforeningen, Oktober-November 1895, København 1895, cat. 68;
Emil Hannover: Maleren C.W. Eckersberg: En Studie i dansk Kunsthistorie, Kunstforeningen, København 1898, fig. 38, pp. 73-75 and cat. 121;
Henrik Bramsen: Landskabsmaleriet i Danmark 1750-1875. Stilhistoriske hovedtræk, København 1935, p. 46;
Sønderjysk Kunstudstilling paa Charlottenborg 20. August – 9. September 1937, København 1937, no. 80;
V. Winkel & Magnussen (ed.): Kunst i privat eje, vol. 1, København 1944, fig. 11, pp. 142-143;
Henrik Bramsen (ed. and comments): C.W. Eckersberg i Paris, Dagbog og Breve, 1810-13, København 1947, p. 43 and 136;
Vagn Poulsen: ”Guldalderbilleder” in C.L. Davids Samling. Fjerde del, Jubilæumsskrift 1945-1970, København 1970, pp. 21-22, no. 1, p. 26;
Vagn Poulsen, Erik Lassen and Jan Danielsen (eds.): Dansk kunsthistorie. Billedkunst og Skulptur. Vol. 3: Akademiet og guldalderen, 1750-1850, København 1972, p. 288 and fig. 233, p. 233.
Dansk kunst og kunsthåndværk, Davids Samling, København 1972, p. 10 and pl. 4;
Verner Jul Andersen: Dansk kunst og kunsthåndværk, Davids Samling, 2. ed., København 1983, cat. 413 and ill. IV;
Hanne Jönsson (ed.): C.W. Eckersberg og hans elever. Udstilling i anledning af 200 året for kunstnerens fødsel: 2. januar - 10. april 1983, Statens Museum for Kunst, København 1983, pp. 18-19 and cat. 14, p. 74;
Kasper Monrad in L’âge d’or de la peinture danoise 1800-1850, Grand Palais, Paris 1984, cat. 28, pp. 123-124;
Torsten Gunnarsson: Friluftsmåleri före friluftsmåleriet. Oljestudien i nordiskt landskapsmåleri 1800-1850 = Open-air oil sketching in Scandinavia 1800-1850 : with a survey of the development of the landscape oil sketch in Europe, c. 1630-1850, Uppsala 1989, pp. 60-62, ill. 42;
Ellen Lerberg and Tone Skedsmo (eds.): Fire danske klassikere: Nicolai Abildgaard, Jens Juel, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, og Bertel Thorvaldsen, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo 1992, cat. 56 and pp. 144-145;
Kasper Monrad and Philip Cornisbee (et al.): The Golden Age of Danish Painting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1993, fig. 4, pp. 40-41;
Philip Cornisbee, Kasper Monrad and Lene Bøgh Rønberg: Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg 1783-1853, National Gallery of Washington, Washington 2003, cat. 7, pp. 70-71;
Peter Michael Hornung and Kasper Monrad: C.W. Eckersberg – dansk malerkunsts fader, København 2005, pp. 107-108;
Dirk Luckow and Dörte Zbikowski (eds.): Die kopenhagener Schule: Meisterwerke dänischer und deutscher Malerei von 1770 bis 1850, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel 2005, p. 48 and 231;
C.W. Eckersbergs dagbøger, ed. and comments by Villads Villadsen, København 2009. Vol. 1, 1810-1836, p. 74, note 1 and pp. 82-83, note 2;
Patricia G. Berman and Thor J. Mednick: Danish Paintings from the Golden Age to the Modern Breakthrough. Selections from the Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb, Scandinavia House, New York 2013, fig. 6, pp. 19-20;
Kasper Monrad et al.: Eckersberg, Statens Museum for Kunst, København 2015, fig. 60, p. 66 and cat. 16, p. 200;
Kasper Monrad et. al.: C.W: Eckersberg 1783-1853. Artiste Danois à Paris, Rome & Copenhague, Fondation Custodia, Paris 2016, cat. 13, pp. 140-141;
Cecilie Høgsbro Østergaard (ed.): Dansk Guldalder: Verdenskunst mellem to katastrofer, Nationalmuseum Stockholm, SMK and Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, København 2019, p. 320;
Philip Weilbach: Maleren Eckersbergs Levned og Værker, København 1872, pp. 215-216;
Udstillingen af C.W. Eckersberg’s Malerier i Kunstforeningen, Oktober-November 1895, København 1895, cat. 68;
Emil Hannover: Maleren C.W. Eckersberg: En Studie i dansk Kunsthistorie, Kunstforeningen, København 1898, fig. 38, pp. 73-75 and cat. 121;
Henrik Bramsen: Landskabsmaleriet i Danmark 1750-1875. Stilhistoriske hovedtræk, København 1935, p. 46;
Sønderjysk Kunstudstilling paa Charlottenborg 20. August – 9. September 1937, København 1937, no. 80;
V. Winkel & Magnussen (ed.): Kunst i privat eje, vol. 1, København 1944, fig. 11, pp. 142-143;
Henrik Bramsen (ed. and comments): C.W. Eckersberg i Paris, Dagbog og Breve, 1810-13, København 1947, p. 43 and 136;
Vagn Poulsen: ”Guldalderbilleder” in C.L. Davids Samling. Fjerde del, Jubilæumsskrift 1945-1970, København 1970, pp. 21-22, no. 1, p. 26;
Vagn Poulsen, Erik Lassen and Jan Danielsen (eds.): Dansk kunsthistorie. Billedkunst og Skulptur. Vol. 3: Akademiet og guldalderen, 1750-1850, København 1972, p. 288 and fig. 233, p. 233.
Dansk kunst og kunsthåndværk, Davids Samling, København 1972, p. 10 and pl. 4;
Verner Jul Andersen: Dansk kunst og kunsthåndværk, Davids Samling, 2. ed., København 1983, cat. 413 and ill. IV;
Hanne Jönsson (ed.): C.W. Eckersberg og hans elever. Udstilling i anledning af 200 året for kunstnerens fødsel: 2. januar - 10. april 1983, Statens Museum for Kunst, København 1983, pp. 18-19 and cat. 14, p. 74;
Kasper Monrad in L’âge d’or de la peinture danoise 1800-1850, Grand Palais, Paris 1984, cat. 28, pp. 123-124;
Torsten Gunnarsson: Friluftsmåleri före friluftsmåleriet. Oljestudien i nordiskt landskapsmåleri 1800-1850 = Open-air oil sketching in Scandinavia 1800-1850 : with a survey of the development of the landscape oil sketch in Europe, c. 1630-1850, Uppsala 1989, pp. 60-62, ill. 42;
Ellen Lerberg and Tone Skedsmo (eds.): Fire danske klassikere: Nicolai Abildgaard, Jens Juel, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, og Bertel Thorvaldsen, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo 1992, cat. 56 and pp. 144-145;
Kasper Monrad and Philip Cornisbee (et al.): The Golden Age of Danish Painting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1993, fig. 4, pp. 40-41;
Philip Cornisbee, Kasper Monrad and Lene Bøgh Rønberg: Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg 1783-1853, National Gallery of Washington, Washington 2003, cat. 7, pp. 70-71;
Peter Michael Hornung and Kasper Monrad: C.W. Eckersberg – dansk malerkunsts fader, København 2005, pp. 107-108;
Dirk Luckow and Dörte Zbikowski (eds.): Die kopenhagener Schule: Meisterwerke dänischer und deutscher Malerei von 1770 bis 1850, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel 2005, p. 48 and 231;
C.W. Eckersbergs dagbøger, ed. and comments by Villads Villadsen, København 2009. Vol. 1, 1810-1836, p. 74, note 1 and pp. 82-83, note 2;
Patricia G. Berman and Thor J. Mednick: Danish Paintings from the Golden Age to the Modern Breakthrough. Selections from the Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb, Scandinavia House, New York 2013, fig. 6, pp. 19-20;
Kasper Monrad et al.: Eckersberg, Statens Museum for Kunst, København 2015, fig. 60, p. 66 and cat. 16, p. 200;
Kasper Monrad et. al.: C.W: Eckersberg 1783-1853. Artiste Danois à Paris, Rome & Copenhague, Fondation Custodia, Paris 2016, cat. 13, pp. 140-141;
Cecilie Høgsbro Østergaard (ed.): Dansk Guldalder: Verdenskunst mellem to katastrofer, Nationalmuseum Stockholm, SMK and Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, København 2019, p. 320;
Footnotes
Footnotes
1.
C.W. Eckersberg, Dagbog og Breve, Paris 1810–13, the artist’s diaries and letters published and annotated by Henrik Bramsen, Copenhagen 1947, p. 43. The diary also informs us that Eckersberg finished the painting on 22 December 1812.
2.
Kasper Monrad et al.: Eckersberg, SMK – The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen 2015, p. 23.
Danish Paintings and Drawings
