Peter Ilsted

Exhibited by Åmells

Material Oil on canvas

Dimensions 58 x 53 cm (23 x 21 in)

Status Vetted

About the Work

Together with Vilhelm Hammershøi and Carl Holsøe, Peter Ilsted formed an influential triumvirate in Danish art at the turn of the century, renowned for their subtle depictions of tranquil interiors. Ilsted received his education at the Kunstakademiet in Copenhagen from 1878 to 1883, studying under, among others, Kristian Zahrtmann and Holger Grønvold. Following the marriage of Ilsted’s sister, Ida, to Hammershøi in 1891, the two artists grew closer, both socially and stylistically, sharing common motifs. Like Hammershøi, Ilsted often used his own home as the setting for his paintings, featuring family members as models. The portrayal of the inner spheres of lived existence was a legacy of a pictorial tradition rooted in Danish Golden Age painting, which had flourished a few decades earlier in the first half of the 19th century and was particularly captivated by the bourgeois culture of the new era. Even in the works of C.W. Eckersberg, the viewer is invited into cultured homes, engaging with the artists' family lives and the ideals that prevailed within them.

In Interior with Girl by a Window, Ilsted captures a motif inspired by his own domestic space. A gentle light streams through the window, illuminating the room, while the solitary female figure acts as both a character and an evocative presence, adding a psychological depth to the composition. The influence of Ilsted's Danish predecessors and the more distant Dutch masters of the 17th century is palpable. His treatment of the room's various textures is marked by restraint and elegance: the lustrous lacquer of the table tops, the delicate transparency of the curtain, the girl’s red-blonde hair elegantly braided, and the round mirror that serves as a portal to a greater spatial expanse where the blue hues of the walls remain strikingly clear.

Interior with Girl by a Window is, in many respects, a portrayal of bourgeois virtue, representing the home where striving, contemplation, and care prevail. The girl depicted is likely one of the artist’s three daughters, and as a symbol of cultivated ideals, she is shown leaning against the window frame, engaged in a quiet activity, perhaps reading or knitting. However, it is not primarily the model that Peter Ilsted focuses on. Instead, the work functions as a kind of portrait of the room itself, where he explores the atmosphere through his choice of colour. In this way, Ilsted’s interior painting becomes a silent encounter between the artist and the ambience that characterises the comfortable bourgeois home

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