An Open Window - A Group of Danish Artists in Rome
Constantin Hansen, 1837
To continue the theme of Danish artists, on the subject of The Parlor Window in the House of Vilhelm Hammershøi.
Those northern vikings are gathered in Rome. Somehow, I have been looking at this painting for months. This artist couldn’t draw people very well. Everyone in this painting seems to have the same face. But there is some magic in the way the exterior mergers with the interior. The stone floor looks like the exterior pavers. Where is the inside, and where is the outside?
The art on the walls is for work, not for display.
The architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll (1800-1856) wearing a Turkish Fez is describing his recent travel experiences in Greece. At the time, Greece was unfamiliar to most Europeans because it had been under the Turkish occupation.
You can see the project of Gottlieb Bindesbøll above. The reinterpreting of windows (and doors) in the proportions of the classical architecture was significant to Gottlieb Bindesbøll. One of the features of the classical architecture is that color is only decorative, when the color fades, the shape, and elements of the structure continue on its own.
Above is the painting by Martinus Rørbye (in the Rome painting, sitting on the stoop of the balcony). The merger of inside and outside was a theme. And a feature in the traditional architecture.
I see my neighbors never opening their windows, in winter or summer, even on mild days. I think it’s a massive spiritual failure. Also, a failure of construction methods to properly modulate temperature. But more so, some sort of autism of the urban dwellers. Permanent separation from nature. All exacerbated by the internet.
The photograph and the painting celebrate the lost art and the magic of a conversation. Especially if a shop talk with your peers.
In a traditional urban square, you can’t tell where is the interior and where is the exterior. Santiago de Compostela is a pilgrimage site, so it miles and miles of walking before you see this. And before you see the tomb of Reb Yankel Der Groyser (Sound No. 12 – מיהו יהודי and the Jerusalem Council.)
Table in front of a window. So you can stare at the distance. Not a screen in an isolated corner of the basement. A conversation with nature.