Landskab med hestevogne, samt talrige figurskitser 1832

This is a landscape with horse-drawn carriages, and numerous figure sketches by Wilhelm Marstrand. Though undated, we know it comes from the height of the Danish Golden Age. This kind of image gives us a fascinating insight into the visual culture of the time. Marstrand’s sketchpad is filled with observations of everyday life and types: figures walking in the streets, horse-drawn carriages, studies of heads and bodies. It’s a cross-section of early 19th-century Danish society. Marstrand attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The sketch gives us an idea of what this kind of academic artist was interested in. What kind of visual resources did they draw on? How did they go about recording the look and feel of the world around them? To understand this image better, we might look at the history of the Academy in Copenhagen, the changing class structure in the city, and how it was represented in art and literature at the time.