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The Waagepetersen Family

Wilhelm Bendz4/7/1830

SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst

SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst
Copenhagen, Danmark

The busy businessman looks up briefly from his work when his wife and two of the couple’s children enter his office within the family’s home on Store Strandstræde in Copenhagen. The Danish middle class With its clear demonstration of the pressures of work handled by the head of the family, the picture illustrates the fundamental values for the Danish middle classes circa 1830: Family and work. The home is sparingly furnished with no unnecessary ornamentation, reflecting the thriftiness prevalent in Denmark during the hard years that followed the Napoleonic wars. Christian Waagepetersen The head of the family shown in the picture is the wine merchant Christian Waagepetersen, one of the men who clearly marked that the middle classes had become the dominant group within Danish society after the aristocracy’s centuries of dominance.Waagepetersen was keenly interested in art and music. He frequently threw musical soirees in his home, where the leading Danish composers and musicians attended alongside painters and sculptors. Waagepetersen also commissioned several pictures addressing themes from his own life and work like this piece.

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  • Title: The Waagepetersen Family
  • Creator: Wilhelm Bendz
  • Creator Lifespan: 1804 Odense - 1832 Vicenza
  • Creator Nationality: Danish
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Creator Birth Place: Odense
  • Creator Death Place: Vicenza
  • Date Created: 4/7/1830
  • Værktekst: Den travle forretningsmand ser op fra sit arbejde i et kort øjeblik, da hans kone med to af parrets børn kommer ind til ham på kontoret, som er i hjemmet i Store Strandstræde i København. Det danske borgerskab Med den klare markering af husfaderens travlhed signalerer billedet, hvad der var grundlaget for det danske borgerskab omkring 1830: familien og arbejdet. Hjemmet er sparsomt møbleret uden unødig udsmykning, hvilket afspejler den nøjsomme levevis i Danmark i kriseårene efter Napoleonskrigene. Christian Waagepetersen Billedets hovedperson er vingrosserer Christian Waagepetersen, som var med til at afstikke, at det nu var borgerskabet, der var blevet den dominerende klasse i Danmark – efter adelens århundredlange dominans. Waagepetersen var stærkt interesseret i kunst og musik. Han holdt jævnligt musikarrangementer i sit hjem, hvor tidens førende danske komponister og musikere deltog sammen med nogle af billedkunstnerne. Bendz og Marstrand som fortrukne malere Waagepetersen bestilte også flere malerier, der ligesom dette billede tog udgangspunkt i hans eget liv og virke. I første omgang gik bestillingerne til Bendz, men efter hans tidlige død overtog Wilhelm Marstrand rollen som vingrossererens foretrukne maler.
  • Teknik: Olie på lærred
  • Proveniens: Køb med tilskud fra Augustinus Fonden og Statens Museumsnævn 1998
  • Dansk link: http://www.smk.dk/index.php?id=2681
  • Dansk Titel: Familien Waagepetersen
  • Physical Dimensions: w88.5 x h99.5 cm (Without frame)
  • Featured Place: København
  • Provenance: Acquired 1998
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: Statens Museum for Kunst, http://www.smk.dk/en/copyright/creative-commons/
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst

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