Abbate Jesting With Two Young Girls 1873

Wilhelm Marstrand painted this scene of an abbot enjoying wine and jesting with young women. The painting evokes social tensions around class and gender that were very much alive when Marstrand made this work. The artist was Danish, yet this painting is set in Italy. At the time it was made, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts encouraged artists to travel to Italy to study the Old Masters. You see, the Academy was part of a broader set of institutions which believed that painting should elevate the mind with classical ideals. However, one wonders if Marstrand’s picture elevates anyone. The scene seems instead to challenge conservative social norms. After all, here we have a religious man who appears to be thoroughly enjoying himself in the company of women who might be prostitutes. These are the kinds of things that an art historian thinks about in trying to understand the context in which art is made. We need to look at who paid for the art, where it was shown, and what people wrote about it at the time.