JUEL, Jens Jørgensen

The painting depicts young nobleman, Marcus Pauli Holst von Schmidten, dashing off to school. The school in question was Christianis Institut, which focused greatly on movement and exercise. The school did pioneering work to give children the opportunity to play and do athletics in the open air. The school’s playground was the first to be built in Denmark.

The young nobleman is seen running on his way to school; his school is glimpsed in the background. The boy’s figure is simultaneously in movement and in balance. It is one of few examples of a figure in movement in Juel’s mature work. An engraving after the American painter Gilbert Stuart’s The Skater (Washington, National Gallery of Art) may have served as inspiration for this painting.

Marie-Sophie-Frederikke married Frederick VI in 1790, when he was still prince of Denmark and Norway, and yet already regent of the country, due to his father’s illness. The composition portrays the Royal Princess of Denmark and Norway accompanied by her eldest daughter, Caroline, aged 7.

The painting, Juel’s largest work, depicts the merchant Niels Ryberg sitting on a bench in the parklands of the manor house Frederiksgave on Funen, with his son Johan Christian and his daughter-in-law Engelke, n�e Falbe in front of him. The picture reflects the new interest in nature that emerged all over Europe towards the end of the 18th century.

Jens Juel was the leading portrait painter in Denmark during the years leading up to 1800, creating more than a thousand portraits during his career. His pictures are characterised by elegance and carefully rendered details.

The sitter Bolette Marie Harboe (1750-1800) married Johan Fr. Lindencrone, a Lord-in-Waiting and a wealthy landowner, in 1768. In 1787 Juel painted their portraits, which were only split up in the second half of the last century.

The painting is signed lower left: Juel pinx.

Christian VII (1749-1808) was King of Denmark-Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1766 until his death. His reign was marked by mental illness and for most of his reign Christian was only nominally king. His half-brother Frederick was designated as regent of Denmark in 1772. From 1784 his son, later Frederick VI, acted as unofficial regent.

At the end of the 18th century a new pastime became popular among the citizens of Copenhagen: outings to the Dancing Glade at Sorgenfri Palace north of Copenhagen. Here, the crowds would picnic, relax, and while away time playing games. Juel captures one of these carefree events.

The central motif is the woman in the swing, who introduces movement to the picture and brings the composition together. During the period immediately preceding this time, the Rococo, women in swings appeared in a great many paintings, always with a hint of eroticism as the skirts fluttered around their legs. Juel’s painting has no such erotic undertones.

As in several others of Juel’s pictures from around 1800, the landscape itself occupies a prominent position here.

Jens Juel, the director of the Copenhagen Academy, in his small landscapes done around 1800, anticipated the naturalism that would soon come to the fore in Germany.