Frants Henningsen - A Summer's Day on Hornbæk Beach, 1886

Frants Henningsen (1850-1908) Denmark 

A Summer's Day on Hornbæk Beach, 1886

pastel on canvas
canvas dimensions 41 x 33 cm (16.14 x 12.99 inches)
frame 56 x 49 cm (22.05 x 19.29 inches)
hand made oak frame by Stockholms Bildhuggeri

Provenance: 
A Swedish private collection

Comparable sales:
Christie's London 
British and European Art, 15 jul 2021
Lot 130, Frants Henningsen - A Summer's Day on Hornbæk Beach 1884 
Price realised 43,750 GBP (605,000 SEK)

Essay:

We are pleased to present a striking pastel by the Danish artist, Frants Henningsen (1850-1908), titled "A Summer's Day on Hornbæk Beach" dated 1886. The scene is from Hornbæk Beach in Denmark, featuring a beach with some pooled water, a few green grass plants, followed by the sea with sailboats, and land visible on the horizon. The water reflection in the puddle on the beach and in the sea is exceptionally beautiful, reflecting the sky, which has a few clouds. This is a motif that the artist revisited several times during the 1880s, including a larger oil painting executed in 1884, sold at Christie's in 2021, and another one from 1883 in the museum collection: The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen. Our pastel is undoubtedly the brightest of those we could find; it is strikingly beautiful and in exceptionally good condition. The artwork comes in a beautiful handmade oak gold frame by Stockholms Bildhuggeri.

About Frants Henningsen:

Frants Peter Diderik Henningsen was a Danish painter, illustrator, and professor. His paintings often depict unfortunate occurrences in the lives of middle-class people living in Copenhagen during challenging times. Although connected with Denmark's more traditional realist school, he faced criticism from some of his more reactionary contemporaries, especially Karl Madsen, who objected to his appointment as a professor at the Academy in 1887. Erik Henningsen, also an artist, was his younger brother.

Henningsen graduated from Borgerdyd School in Christianshavn, attended C.V. Nielsen's drawing school, and then completed his studies at the Danish Academy in 1875. He studied at Léon Bonnat's school in Paris from 1877 to 1878 and traveled to Spain with Peder Severin Krøyer, Frans Schwartz, and Julius Lange in 1878.

Henningsen's first exhibited painting was a portrait of actress Julie Sødring in 1874, after which he virtually exhibited every year at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition held at Charlottenborg Palace. Despite his studies under Bonnat, he remained a rather traditional, diligent, and careful artist, portraying everything from portraits, genre works, and landscapes to animal paintings and illustrations. His interest in compassion rather than beautification can be seen in his masterpiece, "Forladt. Dog ej af Venner i Nøden" (Deserted. But Not by Friends in Need).

Forladt. Dog ej af Venner i Nøden, 1888

Skagen Painters:

The Skagen Painters were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Frants Henningsen was a contemporary of some of the artists in this group, including Peder Severin Krøyer, whom he traveled with to Spain. The Skagen Painters were known for their depictions of the natural surroundings and everyday life in Skagen, characterized by their bright light and loose painting techniques, which were influenced by Impressionism.

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