MUSEUMS AND FOUNDATIONS ART GALLERIES The National Gallery. Besides a unique collection of Danish copper etchings, the Gallery contains a comprehensive and representative collection of Danish paintings which characteristically reflect both Danish scenery and the specific national character of the Danish people, and also a comprehensive collection of Danish sculptures. Furthermore, the Gallery possesses a number of modern works of Norwegian and Swedish artists, and a collection of older foreign art consisting, in addition to some sculptures, of about 600 paintings, some of which have been lent by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotheke. There is a considerable number of valuable Italian paintings (among others Mantegna's »Pieta«), an admirable early portrait of a man by el Greco, and a number of beautiful smaller paintings of the Dutch school. The schools best represented in the Gallery are the Flemish and Dutch schools of the 17th. Century. By Rubens there are, among others, the large, magnificent picture of the Judgement of Solomon and the portrait of Abbot Matthaeus Yrselius, perhaps the best existing portrait by the artist. There are several excellent works of Jordaens, among others the picture known as »The Antwerp Ferryboat<<, a work of great beauty of colouring, which must be considered one of his finest paintings. The various Dutch schools are all very amply represented, though the episodical pictures are not quite so well represented as the landscape paintings. A feature of special interest is the large collection of paintings by Rembrandt and his pupils. Among those of the master himself the best are the portrait of a lady (1656) and the picture of Christ at Emaus dated 1648, which for beauty and intensity of atmosphere far surpasses the picture from the same year at the Louvre. In the copper-etching collection, which consists of about 100,000 prints, there are, besides many other excellent works, some beau tiful engravings by Dürer, which are supposed to have been presented to the Danish King Christian II by the artist himself. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotheke. This gallery was founded in 1882 by Mr. & Mrs. Carl Jacobsen. It contains, on the whole, only original and eminent works of art representative of various countries and periods. The gallery consists of an ancient and a modern division. The older building, inaugurated in 1897 (Architect: J. V. Dahlerup), contains more especially Danish and French sculptures, a unique collection of the original works of H. V. Bissen, Jerichau, and Freund, a large number of the works of Sinding, and a collection of modern French sculpture unsurpassed by that of any other gallery in the world outside France, containing the principal works of Carpeaux, Rodin, Dubois, Chapu, Delaplanche, etc. In the upper story there is a collection of medallions and plaques, a small collection of Renaissance art and a gallery of paintings, mostly by Danish and modern French artists. The newer building was inaugurated in 1906 (Architect: H. Kampmann). It contains a very considerable and select collection of Egyptian and Greco-Roman sculptures. On the ground floor are the Etruscan collection (the Helbig Museum), the Palmyra collection (the largest in the world), and sculptures from the East, etc. Thorvaldsen's Museum: The Museum contains a complete collection of the works of the famous Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen, altogether about 700 works of art, bequeathed by the artist to his native city, Copenhagen. In the centre of the building is 'Thorvaldsens' tomb. The building, which is one of the finest examples of Danish architecture, was built from the designs of M.G. B. Bindesbøll a little before the middle of the 19th. Century, shortly after Thorvaldsen's death. What gives this museum especial interest is the fact that it offers a complete picture of the entire work of a great artist. In this respect it is probably unique. But besides, the Museum is of special interest as a model collection of the so-called neo-classical style in sculpture, which 'superseded the remnants of the rococco style of the 18th, and became predominant in the first half of the 19th. Century. Thorvaldsen was the most eminent representative of the neo-classical school, and no other museum in the world possesses a collection so representative of the special characteristics of this style: its serene beauty, simplicity of form, and purity of line. In addition to Thorvaldsen's sculptures, the Museum contain's an interesting collection of his sketches and drawings, which throws an interesting light on the origin of many of his works, his considerable collections of Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman antiquities, and, finally, a number of paintings mostly by the contemporaries of the artist. The Museum of Applied Art. This Museum, which was opened in 1895, has recently been removed to a new building at 22 Bredgade, the size of which will make it possible for the objects exhibited to be grouped in chronological order, which has not hitherto been the case. The re-arrangement of the collections has caused the museum to be temporarily closed down. Besides collections of European and Eastern applied art from the middle ages and modern times, the museum contains collections showing the development of Danish applied art, more especially from the middle of the 18th century, chief stress being laid on purely artistic aspects, in contradistinction to what is the case in the Cultural Collections belonging under the National Museum. The most important part of the museum is the ceramic collection, more especially the collection of Royal Copenhagen porcelain. Besides, the exhibition of Renaissance furniture and carvings from Slesvig and North Germany (formerly the Magnussen collection), which has been lent to the museum by H. M. the King, may be mentioned. In addition to the older collections, the museum endeavours to display the best specimens of modern Danish applied art, a special room being dedicated to decorative work by Danish artists since the beginning of the 19th Century. At various times exhibitions representative of individual artists or special periods are arranged. A library of literature relating to applied art and a comprehensive collection of pictures is attached to the museum, and various courses in applied art are arranged by the management. ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS The National Museum. In 1892 the various historical collections belonging to the State were assembled under a joint management under the name of the National Museum. The Museum consists of 6 divisions: The Danish Prehistoric Collection. The Collection of Antiques. The Royal Collection of Coins and Medallions. The head of the museum is a Director, under whose control a number of Inspectors administer the individual collections, each exercising a considerable amount of independence. With the exception of the Danish People's Museum, which is temporarily housed in a private building (3 Vesterbrogade) the other collections have since the middle of the last century been contained in the building known as the »Prinsens Palæ« (12 Frederiksholms Kanal). This building, which was erected in 1744, forms, in many respects, a very fine setting for the treasures of the National Museum, but it has for many years been far too small to allow the collections, with a few isolated exceptions, to be displayed under such conditions as they deserve. The Collection of Coins and Medallions is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. The Collection of Antiques possesses objects of unique interest, such as e. g. some heads from the Parthenon, and the Ethnographical Collection, founded in 1849 as the first of its kind in Europe, contains the best existing representation of Eskimo more especially Greenland Eskimo civilization. The feature which, more than anything else, gives the Museum its eminent position among the museums of the world, is, however, the unparallelled collection of Danish prehistoric finds from the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, which was founded as early as 1807. It is, of course, impossible to mention more than a few of the most noteworthy objects. Among these may be mentioned the numerous flint axes, arrow-heads, and daggers and the large number of bronze objects of extraordinarily fine workmanship. Among the latter are the remarkable wind-instruments known as >>Lurer<< and the sun image found at Trundholm. Furthermore may be mentioned the beautiful silver work which has found its way into Denmark from ancient Gaul (the Gundestrup basin) and from Italy (the Hoby find). The collections from historical periods are also very valuable. Among these special attention may be directed to the very fine collection of Romanesque church ornaments from the 12th and 13th Centuries, including some remarkable altar ornaments of hammered and gilt copper of Danish workmanship, and a rich collection of Renaissance and Baroque silver work and furniture. A direct continuation of this part of the National Museum is the Danish People's Museum, the object of which is to give a picture of Danish peasant civilization, and to which is attached a museum at Lyngby, near Copenhagen, containing specimens of types of farmhouses from the various parts of Denmark. Rosenborg. The castle of Rosenborg, which contains >>The Chronological Museum of the Danish Kings<, was built in the years after 1608 by King Christian IV from his own designs. Situated outside the confines of the Capital, the castle was intended to serve as a country resort for the King. The builders employed were mostly Dutch, and, like most of the other buildings erected by Christian IV, Rosenborg consequently shows marked traces of the influence of the Dutch Renaissance style. Christian IV died at Rosenborg in 1648, and his son Frederik III, who, like most of his successors, rarely resided at Rosenborg, founded the present collection as a family museum on the model of the famous Hapsburg family museum at Ambros in the Tyrol. Rosenborg, in its turn, has served as a prototype of the Hohenzoller Museum in Berlin. The collection grew with the death of each King, as it gradually became the custom to place part of the wardrobe, arms, jewelry, and furniture of the deceased at Rosenborg. The original furniture and decorations of many of the rooms are still preserved. This especially applies to the rooms dating from the reigns of Frederik IV and Christian VI, while the arrangement of the rooms from the period 1746-1863 has been somewhat changed. One of the most remarkable rooms is the large assembly room on the third floor, the decorations of which date from 1709-15. Among the most valuable objects may be mentioned the Crown jewels, now exhibited in Christian V's room, and the magnificent and unique collection of Venetian glass. The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle. The Castle of Frederiksborg was originally built by King Frederik II on the site of the earlier manor house of Hillerødsholm. Remnants of the castle erected by Frederik II are still to be found, |