Dimensions: 105 cm (height) x 150 cm (width) x 4 cm (depth) (Netto), 141.6 cm (height) x 188.1 cm (width) x 7.6 cm (depth) (Brutto)
Kristian Zahrtmann painted 'Queen Christina in Palazzo Corsini' with oil on canvas. Look at the ochre and blue tones and the heavy, expressive brushstrokes – you get the sense of the painting coming into being through trial, error, and intuition. I really sympathise with Zahrtmann. I imagine him thinking, How do I capture the complex character of Queen Christina? Here she is, surrounded by people and objects, yet alone with her thoughts. I am drawn to the open book at the queen’s waist. The pages are smooth, tactile and the artist has captured the play of light on the gold leaf edges. For me, the book is a symbol of knowledge, reflection and the many layers of her personality. The brushstrokes are bold and decisive, like a painter grabbing and pulling colour across the surface! The art of painting involves an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity.
Comments
This intimate historical painting shows the abdicated Swedish Queen Christina lifting up her dress to heat her behind by the fire. Zahrtmann may have become interested in Christina through his work on the Danish queen Leonora Christina, but he was also fascinated by the myth concerning her ambiguous gender identity. The ambiguity is accentuated here by the phallic pipe and by her inhabiting a traditionally masculine sphere: The spiritual, intellectual sphere, as symbolised by the book and statue. Zahrtmann was a controversial figure who taught many of the painters of the modern breakthrough. His radical choices of colour and motif stood out amongst the concepts of beauty prevalent in his time. Many figures in his work transcend the gender ideals of his time, but in real life he did not think women could be artists.
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