August 3

On our final day, Bill woke up with a full on cold, which he, unfortunately, caught from me, so, opted to stay home and try and recover . The rest of us headed out to Rosenborg Castle.

This beautiful Castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian IV's many architectural projects. Built in the Dutch Renaissance style, it had been expanded several times, finally evolving into its present condition by the year 1624. The Castle was used by Danish regents as a royal residence until around 1710 but only used twice as a royal residence, after the reign of Frederik IV.

Rosenborg Castle became state property and was opened to the public in 1838. It has been magnificently preserved and houses a museum exhibiting the Royal Collections, artifacts spanning a breadth of royal Danish culture, from the late 16th century of Christian IV to the 19th century. Compared to the sparse interior of Kronborg, Hamlet's Castle, the opulent interior of the Rosenborg Castle  is teeming with sculptured walls, fantastic tapestries, beautiful paintings and portraits, elaborate, inlaid furniture and, the main tourist attraction, the Crown Jewels and the Danish Crown Regalia . Upon our arrival, we were able to witness the changing of the guards and walk through the lovely gardens that were in full bloom.

It was a sight to behold and I was sorry that Bill had to miss it. After our visit to the castle, we found a scenic little square and had lunch at an outdoor cafe. We loved watching the beautiful Danish children and two little girls gave us quite a show, prancing back and forth while dancing and twirling their umbrellas. The cafe offered a fabulous buffet and, since buffets are one of Bill's favorite things I was sad that he missed this one.

Our next stop was the National Gallery of Denmark, a few blocks away. The Gallery collects, registers, maintains, and researches Danish and foreign art dating back from the 14th century to the present day. The museum's collections constitute almost 9,000 paintings and sculptures, approximately 240,000 works of art on paper as well as more than 2,600 plaster casts of figures from ancient times, the middle-ages and the Renaissance. The major part of the museum's older collections comes from the art chambers of Danish kings.

The Gallery has a wonderful collection of French art dating from 1900 to 1930 and European Art from 1300 - 1800 but, my favorite was the Danish and Nordic art from 1750 to 1900. I loved the mood these paintings evoked along with the soft tones and realistic images . What a gift to be able to paint like that! I've included photos of just some of my favorites.

The first floor housed special exhibitions and the one featured during our visit was an exhibit of the works of William Hogarth.   Born in 1697 in London, he was a pictorial satirist, printmaker, engraver, portrait painter, history painter, social critic and art theorist. His countryman widely regard him as the first major British artist, as well as a prominent figure in the history of English culture and arts. The detail in his engravings was amazing as well as the subject matter that depicted life in the 1700's.

Afterwards, we parted ways to return to our respective home exchanges. Bill was feeling a little better when I got back so we went out for a bite at a restaurant in the neighborhood.

 








William Hogarth FRSA (/ˈhoʊɡɑːrθ/; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art .His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects". Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian".^[1]