Christen Kobke [Part of The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel] c. 1837

on

◧ Artist: Christen Kobke(1810 - 1848)                          
◧ Country: Denmark                                
◧ Title: [Part of The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel]      
◧ Medium: Oil painting on paper mounted on canvas   
◧ Painting Size:  24 x 34 cm (9.4" x 13.3")

◧ Museum: National Gallery of Denmark(Statens Museum for Kunst), Copenhagen

(Click to visit the musuem)

◧ Country of Stamp Issue: Denmark
◧ Date of Issue: November 10, 1989
◧ Face Value: 4.40 Danish krone
◧ Issued as a part of Danish Paintings series
▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁

Christen Kobke is often called "Danish master of light".  From 1825 to 1828 he was a pupil of the portrait painter C.A. Lorentzen, then studied under C.W. Eckersberg until about 1834.

It is quite rare a country would issue an oil study painting on stamp, but this [Part of The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel] is an oil study for similar paiting [The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel in Copenhagen] below, now displayed at National Gallery, London.
[The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel in Copenhagen] National Gallery, London

Here is the discription from National Gallery for [The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel in Copenhagen].
Located just outside Copenhagen, the Citadel (Kastellet) was a former military fort where Christen Kobke and his parents lived from 1819 to 1833, although Kobke often returned there to paint. He painted this view in 1837, possibly for his mother as a souvenir of their former home.

This picture shows a drawbridge (that no longer exists) outside the north gate of the Citadel, which crosses a moat to a guardhouse. Kobke made a number of preliminary sketches and an oil study on location before working up the final painting in his studio. Bathed in an evening light, with a hint of pink in the sky, the view is suffused with tones of the complementary colours red and green.

The accurate rendering of the intricate manmade structure recalls the work of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, his teacher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, but Købke is also expressing nostalgia for the place where he grew up.

"An oil study on location" is the painting, [Part of The Northern Drawbridge to the Citadel], at National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), Copenhagen, Denmark, featured on the Danish stamp.  Here is another excerpt from National Gallery, London about "that oil sketch."

The oil sketch would have been painted outdoors, on site, most likely in May 1837. The revised vantage point, to the right of bridge and slightly further from it, allows the bridge to lead our eye into the picture and gives a clear view of the guardhouse.
Available at 
Stamps / Arts & Prints (Click images below to shop at eBay)