Michael Ancher: The Lifeboat is Taken through the Dunes, 1883

courtesy of Statens Museum for Kunst/National Gallery of Denmark, www.smk.dk

Michael Ancher (1849-1927) was a Danish impressionist artist. He is most associated with his paintings of fishermen and other scenes from the Danish port of Skagen; in his large figure paintings he combined history painting classical principles of composition with a captivating realism. In The Lifeboat is Taken through the Dunes, the low, dark winter skies and densely filled picture plane deepens the sense of intense concentration, of heroic grandeur.

Previously, history painting was a vehicle for the depiction of great and good deeds done by mythological heroes and men who made history. Common people only made an appearance as rank and file soldiers or in anonymous crowds. The works of Michael Ancher, however, represent the culmination of counteracting endeavours to place ordinary men as the main characters of contemporary history painting.

the above text appears on the back of the card
HC-1325: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)