897 - Poul Hansen, harbour view with two sailing ships at the quay, row of houses with red tiled roofs

Poul Hansen, harbour view with two sailing ships at the quay, row of houses with red tiled roofs Oil on canvas, signed lower right "Poul Hansen", probably a Danish painter, 20th century, harbour view, in front a cobbled quay with bollard, behind it harbour water, at the opposite quay two sailing ships with dark hulls, masts and shrouds, on the left a smaller one with a light gunwale, on the right a larger one with a high bow, behind them a row of houses with ochre-yellow façades, red tiled roofs and dormers, bare trees, pale sky, condition commensurate with age, retouching, craquelure, canvas dented at the top, image 46x61 cm (HxW), framed, silver-coloured profile frame, frame partly bumped, frame width 5 cm Harbour views with sailing ships in front of the rows of houses of small coastal towns have been among the principal motifs of Danish painting since the 19th century. Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853), who as a teacher at the Copenhagen Academy shaped a whole generation of Danish artists, pursued marine painting with great interest and from 1819 had access to the naval station of Holmen, where ships became his favourite subject. Danish coastal painting is characterised by calm water and a still, pale light, as seen in this harbour picture too. The cobbled quay with bollard, the sailing vessels with mast and shrouds and the ochre-yellow houses with red tiled roofs sum up the image of a Nordic harbour in the 20th century; in Denmark such a harbour picture is called a havneparti.