Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, “A Young Bowman Sharpening His Arrow”, Detail, 1812

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig (now in Aabenraa Municipality, in the southern part of Jutland in Denmark), to Henrik Vilhelm Eckersberg, painter and carpenter, and Ingeborg Nielsdatter. He went on to lay the foundation for the period of art known as the Golden Age of Danish Painting, and is referred to as the Father of Danish painting.

In 1786 his family moved to Blans, a village near the picturesque Alssund, where he enjoyed drawing pictures of the surrounding countryside, and taking sailing tours in his fathers boat. After confirmation he began his training as a painter under church- and portrait painter, Jes Jessen of Aabenraa (1797–1800). He continued his training at 17 years of age under Josiah Jacob Jessen in Flensborg, where he became an apprentice in May 1800. He, however, had his sights set on being accepted at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) in Copenhagen.

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg’s greatest contribution to painting was through his professorship at the Danish Royal Academy of Art. He revitalized teaching by taking students out into the field, where they were challenged to do studies from nature. In this way it was he who introduced direct study from nature into Danish art. He also encouraged his students to develop their individual strengths, thus creating unique styles.

Eckersberg developed an increasing interest in perspective on account of his marine paintings. He wrote a dissertation on the subject called “Linear perspective used in the art of painting” (Linearperspektiven, anvendt paa Malerkunsten), published in 1841, and taught classes on the subject at the Academy. He made a small number of etchings that combine daily life observations with classical, harmonious principles of composition. This led the way to the characteristic manner in which Golden Age painters portrayed common, everyday life.

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, “Ulysses Fleeing the Cave of Polyphemus”, 1812, Oil on Canvas, 81 × 64 cm, Princeton University Art Museum

Christoffer Eckersberg’s biggest contribution to painting was through his professorship at the Danish Royal Academy of Art. He revitalized teaching by taking students out into the field, where they were challenged to do studies from nature. In this way it was he who introduced direct study from nature into Danish art. He also encouraged his students to develop their individual strengths, thus creating unique styles.

He developed an increasing interest in perspective on account of his marine paintings. He wrote a dissertation on the subject called “Linear perspective used in the art of painting” in 1841, and taught classes on the subject at the Academy. He made a small number of etchings that combine daily life observations with classical, harmonious principles of composition. This led the way to the characteristic manner in which Golden Age painters portrayed the common, everyday life.

One of a series of paintings and drawings Eckersberg made to illustrate episodes from Homer’s Odyssey, “Ulysses Fleeing the Cave of Polyphemus”, although a student work, demonstrates the artist’s talents for perspective, acute observation of nature, and nuanced treatment of light. It was painted in Paris, where his training in Copenhagen was supplemented by study with the leading French painter, Jacques-Louis David, whose life-drawing classes were the focus of his teaching. In French history painting, the body was the vehicle used to convey morally instructive tales from Greco-Roman antiquity and Christian sources, and here the young artist displays his mastery. After his stay in Paris, Eckersberg spent three years in Rome before returning to Copenhagen, where he taught the next generation of artists and became known as the Father of Danish Painting.

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Kay Nielsen

Kay Nielsen, Illustration from “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, 1914

Kay Rasmus Nielsen, born in 1886, was a Danish illustrator who was popular in the early 20th century, the “golden age of illustration” which lasted from when Daniel Vierge and other pioneers developed printing technology to the point that drawings and paintings could be reproduced with reasonable facility.

There was an appetite in the early twentieth century for luxurious collections of children’s stories, often bound in gold-toothed vellum, to be given as gifts. Brilliant artists of the day including Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac were commissioned to illustrate them. Perhaps one of the finest creations to emerge from this golden age of illustration was an edition of East of the Sun and West of the Moon which boasted twenty-five colour plates and many more monochrome images by Kay Nielsen, a young Danish artist who had studied in Paris before moving to England in 1911.

The compendium consists of fifteen fairy tales gathered by the Norwegian folklorists Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe on their journeys across mid nineteenth-century Norway. Translated into English by George Webbe Dasent, the stories — populated by witches, trolls, ogres, sly foxes, mysterious bears, beautiful princesses and shy country lads turned heroes — were praised by Jacob Grimm himself for having a freshness and a fullness that “surpasses nearly all others”.

The Great War interrupted Nielsen’s career and he never quite reached the same heights as an illustrator afterwards. But his work did embellish some further collections of stories, notably by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. In his fifties he moved to Hollywood to work for Walt Disney and some of his illustrations graced the “Night on Bald Mountain” and “Ave Maria” sequences of Fantasia (1940). Nielsen was let go by Disney in 1941 and spent the final sixteen years of his life in poverty.

Procol Harum, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”

Procol Harum, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, Live in Denmark, 2006

Procol Harum performing A Whiter Shade of Pale with the Danish National Concert Orchestra and choir at Ledreborg Castle, Denmark in August 2006

“A Whiter Shade of Pale” is the debut single by the English rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The record reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached No. 5 on the US charts. One of the counterculture anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of fewer than 30 singles to have sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

With its Bach-derived instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics, written by the song’s co-authors Gary Brooker, Keith Reid, and organist Matthew Fisher, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” reached No. 1 in several countries when released in 1967. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic. As of 2009, it was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the United Kingdom.

The UK performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed “A Whiter Shade of Pale” No. 57 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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