En lille, stående dreng 1846

Johan Thomas Lundbye made this quick drawing of a little boy in 1846. This work reveals a lot about artistic training and the social life of artists in what was then called the Golden Age of Danish painting. Lundbye made the drawing while he was on a study trip to Italy, supported by the Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark. The image appears to be a study of a young boy whom he encountered in Naples. In its time, this drawing reflected academic training because life drawing was central to the curriculum of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The image reflects a very modern sense of intimacy. We can appreciate this little drawing today for its delicate lines and its sensitive rendering of a child. But we can also see it as a record of how artistic institutions shaped the lives of artists and the kind of art that they produced. To understand this fully, we would need to consult archival records of the Academy and letters written by Lundbye and his contemporaries.