16th century art Scandinavian painting of the 16th century

1. Painting Denmark and Sweden

In Denmark and Sweden in the XVI century there were enough fresco paintings in urban and rural churches, but they were all too handicraft to interest us here. The “painters” of Scandinavia were also exclusively foreigners, except Anders Larsson in Stockholm, known only by name. A native of Cologne, Jacob Bink (circa 1500–1569), beginning in the forties, divided his forces between the court of Duke Albrecht of Prussia and King Christian III of Denmark. After leaving Durer's school, he retained, however, in his art the features of the Dutchman, noticeable in his numerous, rarely completely independent, engravings on copper are no less clear than in his paintings. In Koenigsberg, according to Ehrenberg, he also advanced as a woodcarver. For Denmark, leaving aside his medals, he is only important as a portrait painter. The best preserved are his portraits of Johann Fris (1550) in Hesselagorgora, Brigitte Gööe (1551) and Albrecht Gööe (1556) in Frederiksborg. They are written on green, blue or red backgrounds and show a good, though not particularly talented portrait painter. Melchior Lorch (Lorich; from 1527 to 1590 and later), the artist who traveled extensively and painted the sultan in Constantinople as a native of Flensburg, was in the position of compatriot in relation to Denmark. The court painter of Frederick II, he became in 1580. As an engraver on copper, he belongs to the last of the "German small masters"; in Denmark, he apparently also worked mainly as an engraver on copper. Since 1578, the royal court painter in Kronborg was Hans Knieper, a native of Antwerp who left wall paintings, altar images and portraits in Denmark, but mainly cardboards for famous woven carpets with hunting scenes and paintings from Danish kings, now stored in national museums Copenhagen and Stockholm. Rich in content and enchanting in the background and in the neighborhoods, they find otherwise cool forms of the mixed Dutch-Italian style of this time. The portrait of Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg by Knieper in the castle of Rosenborg is a good but ordinary piece. Finally, it should be called Tobias Hemplin, a native of Augsburg, who left in 1575 with Tycho Brahe in Denmark. Based on his signed portrait of Anders Zörensen Wedel (1578) in Frederiksborg, Beckett attributes a number of other portraits to him. He was not a great master, and, like all these artists, contributed to the awakening of the artistic interests of the Scandinavian north.