Vilhelm Hammershøi

Galerie Commeter, Hamburg
Carl Meyer, Hamburg (by 1918; probably acquired from the above)
Acquired by the step-father of the present owner in the 1940s

Probably, London, Guildhall Art Gallery, Exhibition of a Selection of Works by Danish Painters, 1907
Copenhagen, Den frie Udstilling, 1911-12

Alfred Bramsen & Sophus Michaëlis, Vilhelm Hammershøi. Kunstneren og hans værk, Copenhagen & Christiania, 1918, p. 107, no. 313, catalogued and discussed (as dating from 1908)

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Ltd., of 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, London SW1Y 6BU: UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and the turnover and tacking edges have been strengthened with a thin strip-lining. This is ensuring an even and taut canvas. There is a slight pattern of drying craquelure which is entirely stable and not visually distracting. Paint surface The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer. There is one tiny speck of paint loss in the lower left of the composition. The paint fluoresces unevenly under ultraviolet light as is so often the case with oil paintings by Hammershoi but the only retouchings that I could identify were a few areas around the framing edges and other very small scattered spots. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Painted in 1907-8, the present work depicts Christians Kirke, a magnificent Rococo church situated at the south-west end of Strandgade, the street in which Hammershøi lived between 1898 and 1909. The artist painted some of his most iconic works at this address (see lots 29, 31, 32, and 33) and the location and its immediate surrounding area would have held great personal sigificance for him.

Hammershøi's predilection for monumental buildings focused on palaces and churches which had a particularly strong historical, symbolical or national significance. Christians Kirke, located in the Christianshavn District of Copenhagen, was originally built as a church for the large German community of the area. Christianshavn was founded in 1617 by King Christian IV as a merchant town and it attracted a large community of German craftsmen and traders. They were granted permission by the king to build their own church and he donated land from a former saltworks located at the end of Strandgade on which to erect it. It was financed by a lottery, resulting in the church being known colloquially as the 'lottery church'. King Christian's preferred architect of the time, Nicolai Eigtved designed the church and on his death his son-in-law, Royal Master Builder Georg David Anthon, supervised its construction, which was completed in 1759. A spire, the lowest part of which is visible in the present work, was added in 1769.

The church was originally called Frederiks Tyske Kirke (Frederik's German Church) until it was dissolved in 1886. The name of the church was changed in 1901 to the current Christians Kirke to commemorate Christian IV and to avoid confusion with Frederik's Church in Frederiksstaden. The present work depicts the church under restoration with scaffolding on the facade. Alfred Bramsen, a dentist and Hammershøi's patron, notes that the work was partially painted after a photograph (Bramsen & Michaëlis, 1918, p. 107).

In his preface to the catalogue of Hammershøi's 1907 exhibition at E. J. van Wisselingh & Co in London, Leonard Borwick noted, 'In their majestic harmony of design, in their rhythmical balance and disposal of masses, it is as if the painter had borrowed for the upraising of the monuments on the canvas some of the constructive genius of their original architects.'