Jørgen Roed
Italian Courtyard, n.d.
Oil on canvas, 21 x 23 cm.
Inventory number: 0136NMK
Acquired before 1904. Bestowed to the museum in 1908Acquired before 2006
This little painting from the cloister Santa Scolastica in the town Subiaco east of Rome bears clear traces of having been painted on location, in front of the subject. In some places, the brushstrokes are thick, while in others they are more transparent, and parts of the picture have the character of a sketch. The study is from the inner, oldest cloister with gracefully Roman columns that are alternately smooth and twisted. Roed has been interested in how light and shadow have created dynamic changes in the sense of space, and has with fine, light nuances in the palette reproduced the structures of the low, white room. His interest in architecture painting and his studies under C.W. Eckersberg are detectable in the objectively observing approach to the subject. However, there is a softness in this study is not found in the work of Eckersberg.
Jørgen Roed (1808-1888)
Jørgen Roed joined the Art Academy at the age of fourteen as a student of the portraitist Heinrich Hansen. He later studied under C.W. Eckersberg and for many years, he was interested in architecture painting, which he practiced during his study abroad in Italy in the period 1837-1841. Here, he also carried out many landscapes and received commissions for altarpieces from patrons at home in Denmark. After his return, he supported himself primarily as a portraitist for financial reasons, but it was the earliest paintings that would be of most significance in the future. Roed carried out numerous artist portraits, among others of Wilhelm Marstand and Herman Wilhelm Bissen.
