Marie Martha Krøyer

This is a unique opportunity to acquire a significant painting by the talented artist Marie Krøyer. The painting, long sought after by art historians, was part of the artist's estate and has been in the same family's possession since 1944. It has not been exhibited publicly. It is an important work from the artist's sparse production, created during the honeymoon trip to Italy in 1890, when the newlywed couple, Marie and Peder Severin Krøyer, stayed in the artists' colony in the small mountain village of Civita d’Antino in Abruzzo, Italy.

The village, which was inaccessible, attracted Scandinavian artists who wished to work undisturbed and be inspired by the light, the picturesque surroundings, and the dramatic mountain landscape. The local population was happy to pose as models.

The painting presented in this auction, "Italian Woman with Child," is a snapshot of a young mother gently rocking her infant. The mother and child are bathed in cool white light that is enhanced by the whitewashed wall. Above the cradle hangs an image of the Virgin Mary and child. The young mother's gaze is inscrutably fixed on the child, who rests securely nestled in white linens. On her head, the mother wears a shawl that glows as golden as the Virgin Mary's halo. A symbolic detail in the painting, the red necklace, resembles one that Marie Krøyer wore in the well-known double portrait of the artist couple and in several portraits that Peder Severin Krøyer painted of his wife at this time.

It is an image from everyday life – solemn and enigmatic. It evokes wonder and can simultaneously be interpreted as an echo of the expectations placed on the young, newly married artist Marie Krøyer. She was expected to fulfill many roles: genius wife, angel of the home, hostess, mother, muse, and model. She became her husband's primary model, and he depicted her in portraits, outdoor scenes, interiors, drawings, and photographs. In paintings from the early years of their marriage, she is often portrayed at the easel – a tribute to her own artistic ambitions.

The 1880s were, however, a contradictory time for women's emancipation. Young female artists had gained the opportunity to educate themselves and travel, and they could reside on equal terms with men in the continent's artists' colonies. When they later returned home, they were met with a different reality. It became difficult to reconcile the artistic vocation with earning a living, family, and children. The public art world favoured men, and many women were encouraged – or forced – to engage in crafts, interior design, and illustration rather than painting.

As the wife of one of Denmark's most successful and internationally renowned artists, Peder Severin Krøyer, Marie eventually ceased to paint and exhibit – a life choice that led to her gradually fading away from the Danish art scene.

In the new historiography of Marie Krøyer, the decision to stop painting is emphasised as her own. Like the artist's wife Karin Bergöö Larsson, she was inspired by the English Arts and Crafts movement and created highly personal homes in Skagen, Copenhagen, and later in Tällberg, Sweden.

Marie Krøyer belonged to the artistic avant-garde around the turn of the century, but her production spans several art forms: painting, crafts, design, and interior decoration. Through the major retrospective exhibition in 2023 at Waldemarsudde in Stockholm, Skagens Kunstmuseer, and Den Hirschsprungske Samling in Copenhagen, her artistic work and talent have been brought back to the forefront.

Photo: P.S. Krøyer, Marie Krøyer Reading by the Fireplace, 1890s. Collodion 130 x 178 mm, Skagens Museum.