P. S. Krøyer
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“Kæmner Hans Brodersen og maler Einar Hein siddende i klitten, hver med sin hund.” Bailiff Hans Brodersen and painer Einar Hein, seated in the dunes, each accompanied by his dog. Signed and dated S. Krøyer 98. Oil on canvas. 66×94 cm. H. Chr. Christensen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of P.S. Krøyer, 1923, no. 616. Exhibited: Den Frie Udstilling 1899 no. 67. Provenance: Manufacturer Carl Theodor Neubert (1855–1911); (1899), his widow Helene Neubert (1923). The painting was acquired by the present owner's grandfather in the 1920s. This atmospheric painting by Peder Severin Krøyer stands both as an autonomous work of art and as a significant preparatory study for the major composition “Skagens jægere” (Skagen hunters) from the same year. The scene depicts the bailiff Hans Brodersen (1858–1943) and the painter Einar Hein (1875–1931), reclining at ease in the dunes. Resting in the sun after the hunt in the company of their faithful dogs, they enjoy a cigar and a cigarette, while traces of their luncheon and the day’s game lie scattered at their feet in a composition that appears effortless natural, yet is in fact carefully balanced. The setting opens onto the characteristic flat heath landscape around Skagen, where the horizon seems boundless and the tranquillity of nature forms a discreet yet effective stage for the figures. As so often in Krøyer’s work, however, it is not the motif alone that carries the painting, but the light. The presence of the sun permeates the entire pictorial surface, modelling both soft and hard textures - from the dogs’ fur to the gleaming glass bottles and the sturdy leather boots. In several places, the figures are accentuated by fine, luminous contour lines, lending them an almost vibrating presence within the landscape. The composition points directly towards the monumental group portrait (145 × 255 cm), “Skagens jægere”, acquired by ARoS (Aarhus Art Museum) in 1899, when it was first exhibited. There, Brodersen and Hein appear in similar poses among a group of seven hunters. As the art historian Peter Michael Hornung has observed, the subject of the larger work represents less a specific event than a mood - a tribute to the social fellowship surrounding the hunt, which for Krøyer was often as significant as the hunt itself (Peter Michael Hornung, “Peder Severin Krøyer”, 2002, pp. 297–300). This sensibility is equally evident here: the figures function as natural elements within a unified whole in which light and place emerge as the true protagonists. The painting is not merely a depiction of two men at rest, but an image of life within the artists’ colony at Skagen - of friendship, leisure, and the distinctive Northern Jutland atmosphere that Krøyer captured with rare sensitivity. At the same time, the work bears witness to the close ties between artists and the local bourgeoisie. Hans Brodersen and his wife, Henny Brodersen (1868–1960), played a central role in the town’s cultural life in the 1890s, their home serving as a gathering point for artists and notable local figures. Henny Brodersen would later become an important support to Krøyer - and one of his most favoured models - after his wife, Marie Krøyer (1867–1940), had left him. The painting also reflects the continuity between generations in Skagen, where Krøyer, as a teacher at Kunstnernes Frie Studieskole (The Free School of Study for Artists) in Copenhagen, inspired younger painters such as Einar Hein. In that same year, Krøyer brought Hein to Skagen, where he was swiftly welcomed into the circle of the Skagen painters - a recognition confirmed by his inclusion in the dining room portraits at Brøndums Hotel, a sure sign of acceptance into this distinguished inner circle. The present work thus encapsulates the essence of the Skagen painters’ universe: informal time together, the immediacy of nature, and above all the singular light that made Skagen a focal point for the artists of the age.