Roskilde domkirke 1854

Curator: Standing before us is Vilhelm Kyhn's etching from 1854, entitled "Roskilde domkirke", housed right here at the SMK. The work presents the Roskilde Cathedral framed by the town's architecture. Editor: The scene looks quiet and solemn. It makes me think of stories from a distant time... the tall spires reaching to an ever-watchful heaven... Curator: What strikes me here is the detail achieved through the etching technique. Consider the process, biting into the metal plate with acid to create those delicate lines and hatching, almost like drawing with light and shadow. Think about the skill required to represent such a grand architectural space! Editor: True. The crisp lines define the volume but at the same time dissolve into subtle gray nuances, don’t you think? Notice the small crowd gathered there in front. You can almost feel their devotion in their small silhouettes against the towering cathedral. Curator: Exactly. This interplay between light and dark provides the monumentality and is critical because it places the building and, by extension, religion as something of a material dominance. This type of print was sold en masse. Consider who the audience might have been. Kyhn is mass-producing awe! Editor: He has managed to capture that sense of permanence that speaks about its past but also a living monument for the present! What would they have said if you told them that hundreds of years in the future people would still look at it and marvel? I mean, is a reminder to appreciate the grandeur of those who have passed… it makes you feel a small sense of connection with your predecessors, the cathedral becomes like an anchor in time. Curator: In Kyhn's delicate lines we find a merging point, indeed, of both individual craftmanship and social reflection... fascinating how a printed image, reproducible, and potentially infinitely disseminated can generate a one-to-one, even intimate encounter. It serves as a potent reminder of our interwoven connection to the past, brought to us in the present by the hands of an artist who so carefully, so painstakingly made. Editor: Absolutely, this careful act that became what we admire today, now suspended for eternity, how magnificent, isn’t it?