Research Projects
SMK – the National Gallery of Denmark holds a central position within art history research in Denmark and helps place Danish art within an international perspective. As Denmark’s premier museum of art and as a research institution under the Danish Ministry of Culture, SMK has a special obligation to promote and conduct wide-ranging research on Danish and international art
“Panorama drawing from the Crown Prince’s Bastion at Kronborg. Violence all around the Horizon Circle, Elsinore” (1824)
Pencil, pen, black ink and gray levering on yellowish paper pieced together from eight sheets of paper, 21 x 264 cm
Fundraising underway for two key conservation projects: C.W. Eckersberg and Michelangelo
During the 1820s, C.W. Eckersberg created a group of at least five so-called panoramas, i.e. townscapes or landscapes designed to be mounted in a circle so that the viewer would get an impression of what the entire horizon looked like in a particular location. The viewer would stand in the middle of the circular panorama as if placed in the middle of the townscape or landscape itself. Today, none of these panoramas remain, but large drawn compositions for three of theme exist: one in the Ordrupgaard, and two in SMK, one of which was recently show in Beyond the Light in New York and Los Angeles. The panorama from the castle of Kronborg is the third of these, unfortunately mounted in two separate frames which break up the otherwise continuous panorama into two sections. It would be beneficial to the drawing – and in keeping with Eckersberg’s artistic intentions – to have them mounted together.
Michelangelo Buonarotti: As curator Matthias Wivel describes it, this will be “an exhibition devoted to Michelangelo’s work in sculpture at an unprecedented level of scale and ambition. In recognition of the impossibility of ever gathering the originals, we will be drawing upon the unparalleled holdings of high-quality historical plaster casts in the Royal Danish Cast Collection, supplemented by a selection of new 3D-modelled and -printed facsimiles made in collaboration with Factum Arte in Madrid. The goal is to get as close as possible to a display of the complete sculptural works by Michelangelo.” About 500 hours of conservation work is needed on SMK’s collection of 25 plaster casts.
Oil on canvas, 119,5 x 83 cm
AFSMK underwrites conservation of Federico Barocci’s Portræt af ung dame (1598-1601) (Portrait of a Young Woman)
Likely painted around 1600, this depiction of an unknown aristocratic female by Barocci was taken off view in 2010 after sustaining water damage. The water damage, as well as overpainting which possibly dates back to 1794 restorations following a fire at Christiansborg, have left the work unable to remain on view in the collection.
One of the museum collection’s highlights, Barocci’s Portrait of a young woman displays an aristocratic female figure standing, luminous, against a dark background. Her expression is ethereal and dreamlike, yet still both lifelike and present, and Barocci accentuates the mournful feel of her smile by his treatment of the work – X-rays show that the artist originally created a more well-defined and static expression.
Henri Matisse, Nymph and Faun, c. 1911, Oil on canvas, 73 x 59 cm, SMK - The National Gallery of Denmark © 2021 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Learn more about our 2021 campaign to conserve this unique work by Matisse!
Pictured: Loa Ludvigsen, Conservator, Hanne Støvring, Executive Director, Dorthe Aagesen, Senior Curator
Wall of Crowdfunders
Thank you to our backers for supporting our first Kickstarter campaign Greg M Moga, Ilya Katsnelson, Ane Alsløv, Anna Holliday, Arthur Zegelbone, Barbara Lynn Pedersen, Birte Støvring, Birthe Bruun Nielsen, Bruce Bro, Cheryl Rubin, Christina Hughes, Colleen Thornton, Dam Brooks, Debra Hess Norris, Dorthe Rorbye, Emily Grand, Eric Wells, Erik Bolvinkel, Gabriela Garza De Linde, Gretta Keene & William Murray, Jeanne Barker, Jens & Nelida Mortensen, John Gamble, Judith Williams, Julie Phillips, Karen & Peter Schmidt, Karin Sander, Katie M. Berggren, Katrine Grundtvig Foskjær, Ken Freed & Nick Raposo, Khurram Jamil, Kirstine Bendix Knudsen, Lena & Percy Beck Roervig, Lena Stenwall, Malte Odderskjær Barslund, Marc Henry, Martin Kaplan & Wendy Tarlow Kaplan, Michael Eis, Mikkel Bogh, Morten Riise-Knudsen, Nicholas Croft, Nikolaj Hess, Patton Hindle, Peter Kirkhoff Eriksen, Ron Bowles, Steve Schueler, Thomas Geuken
American Friends of The National Gallery of Denmark achieves crowdfunding goal in 2021 to preserve unique Matisse painting
A big thank you to all of our backers who made this campaign possible!
A unique painting by Henri Matisse has reappeared. After 100 years in private collections, Nymph and Faun was acquired by SMK, The National Gallery of Denmark, in 2018. The painting is to be shown to the American public for the very first time as part of a Matisse exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in May 2022 but is in need of conservation treatment. American Friends of SMK, AFSMK, therefore sent out a call for support to raise the $30,000 needed for the restoration through a crowdfunding initiative on kickstarter.com . Thanks to the support of our backers, this goal was reached in November 2021.
Nymph and Faun has a very special history. It was painted in 1911 and became part of a private collection in Copenhagen just after WWI. In 1927, it was sold to a German private collector after which it disappeared from public view. A few years ago, it suddenly turned up and was offered to SMK, The National Gallery of Denmark, who acquired it in 2018. After being in private hands for more than 100 years the painting is now in need of conservation treatment.
The crowdfunding campaign to raise the $30,000 was listed on Kickstarter and was initiated by AFSMK, who is a key contributor in all Danish/American collaborations with The National Gallery of Denmark. “At this moment, Nymph and Faun cannot travel to the US and be part of the exhibition at MoMA without treatment,” Hanne Støvring, Executive Director of AFSMK explains about this ask for support. “Securing the funds needed for this restoration is an important part of the work of AFSMK and connected to our mission: to make the unique collections of The National Gallery of Denmark available to an American audience.”
By backing the crowdfunding campaign, supporters also buy into the opportunity to follow the conservation process and participate in exclusive events in both the US and Denmark. To learn more about the preservation of Nymph and Faun by Henri Matisse and about this crowdfunding initiative, please go to:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1826270401/help-preserve-a-unique-matisse-painting
Find the full press release HERE
AFSMK has secured support from American foundations for the following projects:
Credit: SMK
Samuel H. Kress Conservation Fellowship for research and treatment of five flower paintings by Elias van den Broeck
In 2012, AFSMK was able to make a one-year conservation grant to SMK, thanks to a $32.000 award from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation that supported the conservation and treatment of five flower paintings by Elias van den Broeck (Antwerpen 1649/50 – Amsterdam 1708), all oil on canvas, c. 64 cm x 57 cm. In conjunction with the planning of a large Flower Exhibition in 2012 a team of conservators and art historians were going to carry through a research project on the museum’s holdings of Baroque floral and animal still lives painted on canvas. Many of these art works had not previously been restored and had never been submitted to technical and art historical research.
The fellowship resulted in treatments of the five paintings, of which three were treated in an ‘open studio’ within the flower exhibition space, supplemented with weekly talks to visitors, updates on Twitter and blog posts.
Credit: SMK
The conservation, restoration and scientific examination of Jacob Jordaens’ The ferry Boat to Antwerp
In 2007 the Getty Foundation approved a grant to SMK in the amount of 1.000.000 DKK for the conservation treatment and research related to one of the most important early works by Jacob Jordaens’ (1593-1678): The Tribute Money. Peter finding the Silver Coin in the Mouth of the Fish (also called The ferry Boat to Antwerp) painted around 1623.
The aim of this large-scale and ambitious project that included conservation, restoration and multifaceted scientific and art-historical research, was to restore the aesthetic appearance of the painting and bring it as close to its former splendor as possible, while at the same time investigating materials, techniques, the history of conservation, and the meaning and provenance of the artwork.
The conservation and restoration treatment as well as the scientific examinations and analyses were carried out in an open studio exhibition accompanied with numerous lectures and weekly dialogues with the museum visitors.