Cosmus Bræstrup, Commissioner of the Copenhagen Police 1870

This is a marble bust depicting Cosmus Bræstrup, Commissioner of the Copenhagen Police, created by Edvard Bentzen. The choice of marble and the bust format places Bræstrup within a lineage of powerful figures commemorated in art. We see, in marble, a connection to ancient Roman traditions of honoring public figures, a visual language that implies authority and permanence. But this bust also tells us about Danish society at the time. The presence of this artwork in the Statens Museum for Kunst, a national museum, indicates the importance of institutions in shaping the production and reception of art. To understand this work better, we might investigate police records from the period or examine the commissioning process that led to its creation. The meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional context.