The Hirschsprung Collection
Encyclopedia
The Hirschsprung Collection (Danish
: Den Hirschsprungske Samling) is an art museum in Copenhagen
, Denmark
. It is located in a parkland setting in Østre Anlæg, near the Danish National Gallery
, and houses a large collection of Danish art
from the 19th and early 20th century. The emphasis is on the Danish Golden Age, from 1800 to 1850, but also the Skagen Painters
and other representatives of the Modern Breakthrough
are well represented.
The museum is built around the personal art collection of Heinrich Hirschsprung
, a tobacco manufacturer and patron of the arts
who founded his art collection in 1865. Almost four decades later, in 1902, he donated it to the Danish state. It is displayed in a purpose-built Neoclassical
museum building designed by Hermann Baagøe Storck and completed in 1911.
was a tobacco manufacturer. He was married to Pauline Hirschsprung, and the couple took a profound interest in the arts and counted many prominent artists of their day among their close friends, including the writer Holger Drachmann
and the painter Peder Severin Krøyer
, both associated with the Skagen colony
. Over a period of four decades, beginning in 1866, Hirschsprung built an extensive collection of Danish art from the beginning of the 18th century and up to their own day.
Ine collection was shown to the public for the first time in 1888 at Charlottenborg
. This happened in connection with the Nordic exhibition of Industry, Agriculture, and Art which was expected to draw many foreign visitors to Copenhagen. The exhibition catalogue included 313 items, representing some 60 Danish artists. About half were paintings while the rest were paintings while the rest were drawings, watercolours, pastels and some sculptures.
. However, the donation was not made public until two years later, in 1902, when the collection was once again exhibited at Charlottenborg. At the same event, the art historian Emil Hannover was put in charge of cataloging the collection. The exhibition at Charlottenborg also included renderings of the planned museum building, which had been designed by the Hermann Baagøe Storck. Disliking the Historicist
style which dominated museum architecture in Copenhagen at the time, it was of critical importance to Hirschsprung that the collection be placed in an independent building built to a more "sober" design. He wanted the museum to stand on the ground left open by the now demolished ramparts around Copenhagen, where a number of new museum buildings, including the recently inaugurated National Gallery
from 1899, had been constructed towards the turn of the century.
Under the terms of the deed of gift, the Danish state and the City of Copenhagen, on their side, were required to make a site and a building available for its exhibition of the collection. This scheme was similar to the one which had been agreed upon in connection with Carl Jacobsen
's foundation of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
. Still Hirschsprung's demand for an independent building gave rise to a political debate on arts politics which went on for several years and put the plans on hold.
While discussions were going on, Hirschsprung continued to build the collection with acquisitions such as Joakim Skovgaard's cartoons for the decoration of Viborg Cathedral
and a number of works by contemporary artists such as Michael Ancher
and Anna Ancher
and Vilhelm Hammershøi
from the art collector Alfred Bramsen's Collection. A number of private individuals also promised to donate works to the collection once it passed into public ownership while others were purchased by Hirschsprung conditional on the same event.
To make the collection into a representative display of 19th-century Danish art, Hirschsprung also started to add sculptures to his holdings, using the sculptor and family friend Ludvig Brandstrup as an adviser. In less than a year, Hirschsprung managed to collect the great majority of the 180 sculptures included in the 1902 catalogue. The collection represents 20 Danish sculptors.
had been built. Heinrich Hirschsprung died the following year, in 1908, and thus never saw his museum materialize. Emil Hannover, the art historian who had catalogued the collection, was charged with the interior design of the museum as well as curating the exhibition. He hung the paintings in chronological order, in the spirit of Hirschsprung.
The Hirschsprung Collection opened to the public in 1911. Pauline Hirschsprung was present at the official opening on 8 July, but died the following year.
cladding and a facade with pediment
s and Doric
pilaster
s. The floor plan consists of four large toplit galleries surrounded by smaller galleries, "alcove
s", with light entering from windows set high in the walls.
While the building from the outside has the appearance of a temple of art, the interior, with its small rooms, has the intimacy of a private home.
The entrance hall to the museum has a floor mosaic from 1910 by Joakim Skovgaard in which stylised tobacco plants commemorate the founder of the museum.
, Christen Købke
, Constantin Hansen
, Wilhelm Marstrand
and Martinus Rørbye
, as well as many lesser known names.
in Danish painting, who broke away from both the strictures of traditional Academicism and the heritage of the Golden Age of Danish Painting, is also well represented. This includes:
associated with them. This was done at the initiative of Emil Hannover, the museum's first director, when he was put in charge of interior design prior to its opening.
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
: Den Hirschsprungske Samling) is an art museum in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. It is located in a parkland setting in Østre Anlæg, near the Danish National Gallery
Statens Museum for Kunst
Statens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....
, and houses a large collection of Danish art
Art of Denmark
Danish art goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, such as the Trundholm sun chariot. Art from modern Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, and then Norse and Viking art...
from the 19th and early 20th century. The emphasis is on the Danish Golden Age, from 1800 to 1850, but also the Skagen Painters
Skagen Painters
The Skagen Painters were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the area of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century...
and other representatives of the Modern Breakthrough
Modern Breakthrough
The Modern Breakthrough is the normal name of the strong movement of naturalism and debating literature of Scandinavia near the end of the 19th century which replaced romanticism....
are well represented.
The museum is built around the personal art collection of Heinrich Hirschsprung
Heinrich Hirschsprung
Heinrich Hirschsprung was a Danish tobacco manufacturer, arts patron and art collector, founder of the Hirschsprung Collection in Copenhagen, a museum dedicated to Danish art from the 19th and early 20th century....
, a tobacco manufacturer and patron of the arts
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
who founded his art collection in 1865. Almost four decades later, in 1902, he donated it to the Danish state. It is displayed in a purpose-built Neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
museum building designed by Hermann Baagøe Storck and completed in 1911.
The collection
Heinrich HirschsprungHeinrich Hirschsprung
Heinrich Hirschsprung was a Danish tobacco manufacturer, arts patron and art collector, founder of the Hirschsprung Collection in Copenhagen, a museum dedicated to Danish art from the 19th and early 20th century....
was a tobacco manufacturer. He was married to Pauline Hirschsprung, and the couple took a profound interest in the arts and counted many prominent artists of their day among their close friends, including the writer Holger Drachmann
Holger Drachmann
Holger Henrik Herholdt Drachmann , was a Danish poet and dramatist. He is an outstanding figure of the Modern Break-Through....
and the painter Peder Severin Krøyer
Peder Severin Krøyer
Peder Severin Krøyer , known as P.S. Krøyer, was a Norwegian-Danish painter. He is one of the best known and beloved, and undeniably the most colorful of the Skagen Painters, a community of Danish and Nordic artists who lived, gathered or worked in Skagen, Denmark, especially during the final...
, both associated with the Skagen colony
Skagen Painters
The Skagen Painters were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the area of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century...
. Over a period of four decades, beginning in 1866, Hirschsprung built an extensive collection of Danish art from the beginning of the 18th century and up to their own day.
Ine collection was shown to the public for the first time in 1888 at Charlottenborg
Charlottenborg Palace
Charlottenborg Palace is a large town mansion located on the corner of Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn in Copenhagen, Denmark. Originally built as a residence for Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, it has served as the base of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts since its foundation in 1754...
. This happened in connection with the Nordic exhibition of Industry, Agriculture, and Art which was expected to draw many foreign visitors to Copenhagen. The exhibition catalogue included 313 items, representing some 60 Danish artists. About half were paintings while the rest were paintings while the rest were drawings, watercolours, pastels and some sculptures.
Planning of the museum
In 1900, Pauline and Heinrich Hirschsprung decided to donate their art collection to the Danish state. They had a deed of gift drawn up, which was deposited with the Danish Ministry of Cultural AffairsMinistry of Culture of Denmark
The Ministry of Culture of Denmark is a department of the Danish Government, with responsibility for culture, sport and media.-History:...
. However, the donation was not made public until two years later, in 1902, when the collection was once again exhibited at Charlottenborg. At the same event, the art historian Emil Hannover was put in charge of cataloging the collection. The exhibition at Charlottenborg also included renderings of the planned museum building, which had been designed by the Hermann Baagøe Storck. Disliking the Historicist
Historicism (art)
Historicism refers to artistic styles that draw their inspiration from copying historic styles or artisans. After neo-classicism, which could itself be considered a historicist movement, the 19th century saw a new historicist phase marked by a return to a more ancient classicism, in particular in...
style which dominated museum architecture in Copenhagen at the time, it was of critical importance to Hirschsprung that the collection be placed in an independent building built to a more "sober" design. He wanted the museum to stand on the ground left open by the now demolished ramparts around Copenhagen, where a number of new museum buildings, including the recently inaugurated National Gallery
Statens Museum for Kunst
Statens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....
from 1899, had been constructed towards the turn of the century.
Under the terms of the deed of gift, the Danish state and the City of Copenhagen, on their side, were required to make a site and a building available for its exhibition of the collection. This scheme was similar to the one which had been agreed upon in connection with Carl Jacobsen
Carl Jacobsen
Carl Christian Hillman Jacobsen was a Danish brewer, art collector and philanthropist, the son of J. C. Jacobsen, who founded the brewery Carlsberg and named it after him.-Career:...
's foundation of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark...
. Still Hirschsprung's demand for an independent building gave rise to a political debate on arts politics which went on for several years and put the plans on hold.
Viborg Cathedral
Viborg Cathedral, Our Lady Cathedral is the site of one of Denmark's most important historic churches located in the town of Viborg in northern Jutland...
and a number of works by contemporary artists such as Michael Ancher
Michael
Michael is a given name that comes from the , derived from the Hebrew question מי כמו אלוהים? meaning "Who is like God?" In English, it is sometimes shortened to Mike, Mikey, or, especially in Ireland, Mick...
and Anna Ancher
Anna Ancher
Anna Ancher was a Danish artist associated with the Skagen Painters, an artists' colony in the very north of Jutland.-Background:...
and Vilhelm Hammershøi
Vilhelm Hammershøi
Vilhelm Hammershøi , often written in English Vilhelm Hammershoi , was a Danish painter. He is known for his poetic, low-key portraits and interiors. In 1997, Denmark issued a postage stamp in his honor.-Life:...
from the art collector Alfred Bramsen's Collection. A number of private individuals also promised to donate works to the collection once it passed into public ownership while others were purchased by Hirschsprung conditional on the same event.
To make the collection into a representative display of 19th-century Danish art, Hirschsprung also started to add sculptures to his holdings, using the sculptor and family friend Ludvig Brandstrup as an adviser. In less than a year, Hirschsprung managed to collect the great majority of the 180 sculptures included in the 1902 catalogue. The collection represents 20 Danish sculptors.
Construction and opening
1907 finally saw a successful conclusion to negotiations and a start could be made on building Storck's project from 1902. The site which was ultimately chosen was in Østre Anlæg, a park which had been laid out on the grounds of the city's former fortifications and where also the National GalleryStatens Museum for Kunst
Statens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....
had been built. Heinrich Hirschsprung died the following year, in 1908, and thus never saw his museum materialize. Emil Hannover, the art historian who had catalogued the collection, was charged with the interior design of the museum as well as curating the exhibition. He hung the paintings in chronological order, in the spirit of Hirschsprung.
The Hirschsprung Collection opened to the public in 1911. Pauline Hirschsprung was present at the official opening on 8 July, but died the following year.
Building
The museum building is a simple neoclassical building with a light marbleMarble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
cladding and a facade with pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
s and Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s. The floor plan consists of four large toplit galleries surrounded by smaller galleries, "alcove
Alcove
Alcove , a vault) is an architectural term for a recess in a room, usually screened off by pillars, balustrades or drapery.In geography and geology, the term Alcove is used for a wind-eroded depression in the side of a cliff of a homogenous rock type, famous from sandstones of the Colorado Plateau...
s", with light entering from windows set high in the walls.
While the building from the outside has the appearance of a temple of art, the interior, with its small rooms, has the intimacy of a private home.
The entrance hall to the museum has a floor mosaic from 1910 by Joakim Skovgaard in which stylised tobacco plants commemorate the founder of the museum.
Danish Golden Age
The museum exhibits more than 700 works of art. The emphasis is on the Golden Age of Danish Painting. All the major painters of the period are represented, including C. W. EckersbergChristoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig , to Henrik Vilhelm Eckersberg, painter and carpenter, and Ingeborg Nielsdatter...
, Christen Købke
Christen Købke
Christen Schiellerup Købke , Danish painter, was born in Copenhagen to Peter Berendt Købke, a baker, and his wife Cecilie Margrete. He was one of 11 children...
, Constantin Hansen
Constantin Hansen
Carl Christian Constantin Hansen was one of the painters associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He was deeply interested in literature and mythology, and inspired by art historian Niels Lauritz Høyen, he tried to recreate a national historical painting based on Norse mythology...
, Wilhelm Marstrand
Wilhelm Marstrand
Nicolai Wilhelm Nikolaj Marstrand , painter and illustrator, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to Nicolai Jacob Marstrand, instrument maker and inventor, and Petra Othilia Smith...
and Martinus Rørbye
Martinus Rørbye
Martinus Christian Wesseltoft Rørbye was a Danish painter, known both for genre works and landscapes. He was a central figure of the Golden Age of Danish painting during the first half of the 19th century....
, as well as many lesser known names.
Modern Breakthrough
The artistic generation in the late 19th century, also known as the Modern BreakthroughModern Breakthrough
The Modern Breakthrough is the normal name of the strong movement of naturalism and debating literature of Scandinavia near the end of the 19th century which replaced romanticism....
in Danish painting, who broke away from both the strictures of traditional Academicism and the heritage of the Golden Age of Danish Painting, is also well represented. This includes:
- Skagen PaintersSkagen PaintersThe Skagen Painters were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the area of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century...
such as P. S. KrøyerPeder Severin KrøyerPeder Severin Krøyer , known as P.S. Krøyer, was a Norwegian-Danish painter. He is one of the best known and beloved, and undeniably the most colorful of the Skagen Painters, a community of Danish and Nordic artists who lived, gathered or worked in Skagen, Denmark, especially during the final...
and Michael and Anna AncherAnna AncherAnna Ancher was a Danish artist associated with the Skagen Painters, an artists' colony in the very north of Jutland.-Background:... - Theodor PhilipsenTheodor PhilipsenTheodor Philipsen was a Danish painter.Philipsen has been considered an innovator of 19th century Danish art. He took Danish art into a new level of impressionism and naturalism. He was influenced by French art, this influence beginning in his first time in Paris from 1874–1876...
, Denmark's foremost representative of ImpressionismImpressionismImpressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s... - Symbolisterne, The Danish SymbolistSymbolism (arts)Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
movement - Fynboerne, natives of FunenFunenFunen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...
, a group of artists from Funen who met at Kristian ZahrtmannKristian ZahrtmannPeder Henrik Kristian Zahrtmann, known as Kristian Zahrtmann, was a Danish painter. He was a part of the Danish artistic generation in the late 19th century, along with Peder Severin Krøyer and Theodor Esbern Philipsen, who broke away from both the strictures of traditional Academicism and the...
's independent art school in the 1880s.
Provenance furniture
The smaller galleries of the museum are furnished with furniture designed by the Golden Age artists and other provenance furnitureProvenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
associated with them. This was done at the initiative of Emil Hannover, the museum's first director, when he was put in charge of interior design prior to its opening.