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Lot Essay
Carl Holsøe studied from 1882-1884 at the Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi in Copenhagen and subsequently at the Kunstnernes Studieskole under the mentorship of P. S. Krøyer. Holsøe's first interior scene submitted to the Charlottenborg December exhibition in 1886 received a warm reception from the critics, many of whom were struck by Holsøe's precise and harmonious spatial arrangement of figures and objects.
Single figures in interior settings occupied a central theme in Danish art of the 19th Century. Along with Vilhem Hammershøi and Peter Ilsted, Carl Holsøe emerged as one of the major proponents of this genre which stressed simplicity and sentimentality. Compared with the more symbolic overtones of Hammershøi's atmospheric works, Holsøe's paintings are more down-to-earth in their narrative scope and stress the natural beauty of the subject as communicated through the harmonious play of light and shadow.
Although Holsøe executed many beautiful landscapes, he was best known for his interiors often with a single figure or an empty, simply furnished interior. The overt simplicity of these rooms and the single figure portrayed conveys a sense of timelessness and evokes the wistful nature of solitude and introspection. Never is the viewer privy to the face of a Holsøe model; as in the present work, the lady reading by lamplight gently blends into the composition as if part of a still life.
Single figures in interior settings occupied a central theme in Danish art of the 19th Century. Along with Vilhem Hammershøi and Peter Ilsted, Carl Holsøe emerged as one of the major proponents of this genre which stressed simplicity and sentimentality. Compared with the more symbolic overtones of Hammershøi's atmospheric works, Holsøe's paintings are more down-to-earth in their narrative scope and stress the natural beauty of the subject as communicated through the harmonious play of light and shadow.
Although Holsøe executed many beautiful landscapes, he was best known for his interiors often with a single figure or an empty, simply furnished interior. The overt simplicity of these rooms and the single figure portrayed conveys a sense of timelessness and evokes the wistful nature of solitude and introspection. Never is the viewer privy to the face of a Holsøe model; as in the present work, the lady reading by lamplight gently blends into the composition as if part of a still life.