Nissen i Tirup fodrer den hvide hoppe 1842

Andreas Flinch made this print of ‘Nissen i Tirup fodrer den hvide hoppe’ using engraving techniques sometime in the mid-19th century. It depicts a ‘nisse,’ a mythological creature from Scandinavian folklore, feeding a white mare. This image speaks to the cultural history of 19th-century Denmark, a time when national romanticism was on the rise. Artists and writers turned to folklore and mythology to construct a shared national identity. In this context, the ‘nisse,’ traditionally a guardian spirit of the farm, becomes a symbol of Danish rural life and its connection to the past. The image also reflects the institutional history of art. Prints like this were often made for popular consumption. They circulated widely and shaped public perceptions of Danish identity. To better understand the appeal of this image, one could research folklore collections, popular literature, and the art market of the time. Such sources reveal how art is always embedded in specific social and institutional contexts.