H.V. Bissens Statue af Frederik 6. i Frederiksberg Have 1913

This is Alexander Blom’s print of H.V. Bissen’s statue of Frederik VI, located in Frederiksberg Have. It’s held at the Statens Museum for Kunst. Prints like this one circulated widely in Denmark at the turn of the century and show how the image of the monarch was being reproduced and consumed by an ever-widening public. Frederik VI was King of Denmark during a period of significant social and political change, including the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutionalism. Public monuments like Bissen's statue were a way of negotiating that change, visually anchoring the power of the monarchy in the landscape of the city. Blom's print participates in this project of image-making, but also transforms it, translating the authority of the monument into a cheap, reproducible image. This creates new viewing contexts, shaping the reception of Frederik’s image in ways we can trace through an understanding of the print market in Denmark at this time.