The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-08
ART IN COPENHAGEN.

Copenhagen is picturesque In lts SITUATION
and pleasant in its society; commerce and the
residence of court make the city prosperous
and CAV. The capital of Denmark, approached
from the sea, seems to float on the waves: she
lies quietly as if at anchor, sheltered by a
breakwater of islands from the stormy Ger
man Ocean. Her position is well chosen
she is, as it we're, stRGioned ms q sentinel to
keep watch at the water-g lte of Northern
Europe. In times past she was able to lay
nations under tribute; her treasures tell of
her ancient wealth and dominion. And the
arts have not entered Denmark wholly as i'm
portations from foreign lands; they are in
part indigenous to the soil they have pedi-
gree which stretches back even to prehistoric
times. Copenhagen, then, fortunate in geo.
graphic position, and boasting of a national
career, has for long taken rank among the
chief art-capitals of Europe.
Art in Denmark may be compared to the
geological formation common in Scandinavia
generally; it is as a late alluvial deposit lying
on an early granite substructure. The art,
like the land itself, is either very early or
very late; the middle ages are almost left out;
indeed, at first sight, little appears to inter-
vene between the prehistoric era termed by
antiquaries ''the Stone Period" and those
modern times which are given up to the style
known as the Renaissance. In other words,
to the early Christian or pre-Raffaelite period
of Italy, or to the times of the Gothic devel-
opment in France, Germany, or England.
Thor and Odin held for long the affections
of the people. Christian art could scarcely
exist prior to the tenth century, because
there was hardly Christian in the country.
The dark background to Danish civilization
receives such light as may be possible in that
magnificent collection, the most complete of
its kind, ''Le Musee des Antiquities du Nord. {"
The rooms in the palace appropriated to this
Museum are apportioned between ''The Age
of Stone, ''The Age of Bronze" and "The
Age of Iron ;" classification which has been
adopted in all similar collections with which
we are acquainted in Northern Europe. Dem
mark being without trustworthy written
records prior to the tenth century of our era
it is almost impossible to overrate the
importance of a museum wherein the
history of primitive people may be read
in contemporary monuments. The country
lay beyond the pele of Roman
conquests, and therefore its archaeological re-
mains have the interest of unspoilt nation
ality. The extent of these remains is almost
incredible; the numerous cromlechs, whence
it may be said Danish antiquaries have ex-
humed the hidden history of their country,
furnish this Museum with endless replcas and
varieties of each typical form of hatchet,
chisel, knife, arrowhead, armlet, etc. This
Museum, true to the idea of nationality,
also comprises some works of the 'Moyeu
Age" which possess local significance. In
these latitudes Runic inscriptions and orna-
ments abound, and that down into periods
elsewhere surrendered to Latin or Gothic
characters and styles Among ''obiets desti-
mes au cutie" such works as the following are
remarkable:-"1 Devant aautel de la fin
du 12e steele, provenant de Tvenstrup pres
de Horsens, compose de plaques de cuivre,
appliquees sur un fond de bois de chene. Ces
plaques sont travaillees au repousse, dorees
ct primitivement decorees de pierreries. Les
representations figurales sont tirees de rancien
ct du nouveau Testament. Sept eglises de
campagne du Jutland ct du Slesvig possedaient
ou possedaient des revetements analogues ct
contemporaries" This truly national Museum,
unrivalled in its gold treasures, would alone
repay visit to Copenhagen.
An chronological Museum has been so ar
ranged as to elucidate the contiguous Museum
of Northern Antiquities. The idea seems to
be that savage tribes now extant may be
taken as living representatives of peoples of
prehistoric times, Just as we are taught by
biologists to look to strata in course of
formation as an index to the state of the
earth's surface thousands of years ago. The
primitive arts thus brought together from
the uncivilized tribes of Asia, Africa, Anne
rica and the Isles of the Pacific are
certainly analogous, and sometimes all
but identical, with stone and other
implements dug up in Scandinavia. The Eth
biological Museum, founded by the late @. j.
Thomson, has obtained important develop
ment under Professor Worsaae, to whose
knowledge and enterprise may be ascribed
the present systematic arrangement of the
national collections. Copenhagen, kind of
ideal capital in miniature, has managed to
make her museums a tolerably complete
epitome of the arts and sciences. Denmark,
notwithstanding her diminished strength,
makes no small effort to give to her people
the means of intellectual growth; and so we'll
administered are the many museums and
educational establishments of the capital
that the student has little excuse when he
quits his home and his country. Copenhagen
had the advantage of an endowed system of
art education ten years before the Royal Aca-
DENY was established in London. Her Uni
versity has high repute her libraries, her ma
tural history and anatomical museums, are on
a scale more than commensurate with hel
population and revenue. Her picture gallery
comprises seven hundred fairly good ex.
amples of ancient and modern art. To these
may be added small collection of Egyptian,
Greek, and Roman antiquities, cabinet OF
coins, gallery OF engravings, and some
choice illuminations. Space does not permit
us to describe the Thorwaldsen Museum OF
more than six hundred works, which, though
well known everywhere, can nowhere else be
seen collectively. Thorwaldsen, like Other
artists of the North, came of the people; his
father was q ship-carpenter in Copenhagen
His genius, now the pride of his native city
remained neglected till it obtained recogni
tion from Mr.. Hope of London. A separate
paragraph is due to the Castle of Rosen
borg, "le Musee Chronologique des Rois dI