Hesteforkroppen alene fra forige blad 1810 - 1873

Curator: Right now we're looking at a work titled "Hesteforkroppen alene fra forige blad" by Wilhelm Marstrand, which roughly translates to "The Horse's Forequarters Alone from the Previous Sheet". It's a drawing using pen and ink and resides here at the SMK, made sometime between 1810 and 1873. Editor: Immediately, I see this gorgeous, melancholic creature. The lines are so raw; the horse looks like it’s seen a thing or two, maybe hauling something way too heavy on its back! It’s strangely moving. Curator: The date places this drawing in a tumultuous time for Denmark, which underwent massive social and political shifts. While seemingly just an animal portrait, we have to also consider the relationship between human and animal labour. Horses played a critical role in agriculture and transportation during the period of its creation, often standing in for enslaved labor. This places the subject, and Marstrand, firmly within specific socioeconomic power dynamics. Editor: Right! There’s something so unsettled about it, perhaps a bit claustrophobic in the composition? But that also makes it…vulnerable, right? That’s what connects with me. Its raw energy jumps right off the page, almost incomplete as if a bigger story waits to be drawn. Curator: Well, if we think about it in terms of social theory, horses in art became stand-ins, especially as society continued grappling with the effects of race, class and industrial advancement. By capturing only the forequarters of the animal, does the work somehow address contemporary tensions? The lines and their varying density almost become codes to decipher? Editor: Mmm, I like the idea of encoded commentary. What grabs me is its presence. The quick strokes give it this wild, untamed essence, even in confinement. You can almost hear it snorting, see the flicker in its eyes, like a hidden soul laid bare, you know? Almost…alive. Curator: What's fascinating to me is thinking of this piece, in ink on paper, as an indexical marker of broader anxieties—the drawing bears a real trace of history while seeming ephemeral. Editor: I feel like I want to let it loose. Run free. You know? It is just a sketch, but gosh, the animal is bewitching and heartbreaking, like an old memory about to surface.