En svævende mandsfigur med en krone i højre hånd 1743 - 1809

Curator: Allow me to introduce Nicolai Abildgaard's intriguing sketch, "En svævende mandsfigur med en krone i højre hånd," dating from 1743 to 1809. It resides here at the SMK, Statens Museum for Kunst. Editor: My goodness, he looks like he’s mid-sneeze, sailing dramatically through some cosmic sneeze guard. What a curious figure, this half-draped man suspended in, well, nowhere. Curator: The "nowhere," as you put it, is essential. Consider this: The sketch format itself reveals the mind at play, a space for intellectual wandering. Abildgaard, a key figure in Danish Neoclassicism, uses the floating figure as a trope to represent allegorical concepts and heroic ideals, common in his era. Note the crown; it symbolizes authority. Editor: Authority with a dash of awkward levitation! I get that it's classical, but it feels almost comically ungrounded. Is he rising to power or being…discarded? And that half-rendered cloth! Is it supposed to evoke classic drapery, or did Abildgaard just lose interest halfway through? Curator: It's that very incompleteness which I think is so striking. The open lines invite our completion; his artistic interpretation seeks an equal and opposite interpretation. It shows process and not final form. Look at his face, how that one section shows hatching that communicates volume. Editor: Hmm, okay, I see your point about inviting participation. The unfinished lines give him that "escape velocity" feeling – he’s still becoming. Is the classical past ever truly settled or finished? I like how the sketch questions itself. And, dare I say, it's a surprisingly funny image in its odd, heroic, unfinished grandeur. Curator: Absolutely. The humor underscores the intellectual flexibility of the work. Abildgaard wasn't just mimicking classical forms; he was actively engaging with them, questioning them, re-imagining their symbolism for his time. Editor: It's amazing to see that dialogue unfolding centuries later too, still provocative and fresh! I almost feel like grabbing a pencil myself to add a little something. A hat perhaps? Curator: That's the charm of works on paper, their accessibility to touch the artist and the dialogue. Editor: A sketchbook indeed. One thing is certain. That’s an experiment, still aloft, after all these years.