Ung dame i profil 1881

Søren Madsen made this plaster relief, ‘Young Woman in Profile’ sometime in the late 19th century. It is currently held at the National Gallery of Denmark, Statens Museum for Kunst. The restrained neoclassical style presents the sitter as both an individual and a type. We know from photographs that nineteenth-century artists favored this aesthetic. The formal setting of the artistic academies helped consolidate this style, as did the classical collections of institutions like the SMK. It encouraged artists to embrace classical forms and themes. In Denmark, as elsewhere in Europe, this was seen as a ‘high’ style with cultural and political prestige. For the social historian, this work raises questions about the artist’s social position. How did class and status affect the making of art in Denmark at this time? And what role did art play in maintaining or challenging the social order? We can use gallery records, letters, and contemporary publications to piece together the answers.