Frants P.D. Henningsen (Danish 1850-1908)

A Watering Place at Gisselfeld
oil on canvas, signed with initials and dated lower left "FH 86", signed on sticker on verso "Frants Henningsen"

Exhibited: Charlottenborg 1886, no. 161
Association for National Art 1970 no. 28
Provenance: Mrs. Director C.V. Nielsen

This painting depicts horses watering near Gisselfeld, Denmark's fifth-largest land estate which is set in a scenic forested environment in an area of lakes and hills. The area is known for its wildlife and farming and contains one of the oldest and best preserved renaissance castles in Denmark.

The Danish genre painter, illustrator and professor Frants Henningsen was born in Copenhagen in 1850, the elder brother of Erik Henningsen who was also an artist. Frantz is known for his traditional, realist depictions of the Danish middle-class. He studied at the Danish Royal Academy where he graduated in 1875, then in Paris at Léon Bonnat’s school from 1877 to 1878. In France he was influenced by the French modern style of the day, interpreted in his own traditional academic style. He was also influenced by Millet who was highly regarded in Denmark. In 1878 he travelled to Spain with the artists Frans Schwartz, Julius Lange and the famous Peder Severin Krøyer, where he may have been influenced by the dark colouring of the Spanish School and Velasquez. A highly skilled figure painter and talented landscape artist with excellent perspective, Frantz Henningsen exhibited regularly, including the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition nearly every year from 1874.
Size: 26 ¾ h x 41 ¼ w (with frame 40 x 54 ¾)
J21238