Portrait Bust of a Little Girl 1900

This is Ludvig Brandstrup’s marble “Portrait Bust of a Little Girl,” now housed at the Statens Museum for Kunst. Brandstrup worked in Denmark at the turn of the 20th century, a time when artists were deeply engaged with questions of national identity and the place of tradition in a rapidly modernizing world. The artist's decision to work in the classical form of the portrait bust would have resonated with contemporary audiences who were familiar with neoclassical sculpture. The absent eyes create a sense of distance that is at odds with the intimacy we expect from a portrait. It presents a vision of childhood that is idealized and perhaps even otherworldly. During this period, institutions like the Copenhagen Academy played a key role in shaping artistic taste and promoting certain styles. Brandstrup’s work, while technically skilled, also reflects the conservative artistic values of the Danish cultural establishment. To understand this work more fully, we might look to exhibition reviews of Brandstrup's work, or consult archives of the Copenhagen Academy to understand the aesthetic debates of the period. Doing so would help us understand better the cultural values of Brandstrup’s Denmark.