Siddende ung fisker 1810 - 1873

This is an undated pencil drawing called ‘Sitting Young Fisherman’ by the Danish artist Wilhelm Marstrand, who lived in the 19th century. We see a young man, modestly dressed, gazing out to the left, while he sits with his bare feet resting on a ledge. Marstrand was Denmark’s best-known history painter. He was also the director of the Danish Academy. He was committed to Denmark’s national culture at a time when the country was experiencing a crisis of identity. It had lost Norway in 1814, and was at war with Germany in 1848-50. The fishing industry was very important to the Danish economy, and Marstrand’s choice of subject matter would have been seen as patriotic. But the naturalistic sketch is also indebted to academic traditions, particularly in its attention to anatomy and classical sculpture. When looking at a work like this, we might consider its place in the national collection. What does it tell us about Danish identity at this time? And how does it reflect Marstrand’s own institutional position? These are the kinds of questions that art historians ask.