Fra Italien med kærlighed – til Danmark: Wilhelm Marstrands og P.C. Skovgaards rejser til Venedig i 1850’erne

This article looks at the works Wilhelm Marstrand created in connection with his stay in Venice in 1853–54, and analyses the characteristics of Marstrand’s working method, choice of subject matter and role on the Danish art scene in light of the period's National Romantic trends and the prevailing expectations held of academic painters. To put Marstrand into perspective, the article also addresses his friend and fellow artist Peter Christian Skovgaard (1817–75), who stayed in Venice at the same time as Marstrand. The article illustrates how their works embody their different approaches – one being a figure painter, the other a landscape painter – and how the period’s discussion about the national sentiment in Danish art has coloured the reception of both of these Danish painters’ Venetian images.