Denmark. Danish art is the visual arts produced in Denmark or by Danish artists. It goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, such as the Trundholm sun chariot. For many early periods, it is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. Art from what is today Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, and then Norse and Viking art. Danish medieval painting is almost entirely known from church frescos such as those from the 16th-century artist known as the Elmelunde Master. The Reformation greatly disrupted Danish artistic traditions, and left the existing body of painters and sculptors without large markets. The requirements of the court and aristocracy were mainly for portraits, usually by imported artists, and it was not until the 18th century that large numbers of Danes were trained in contemporary styles. For an extended period of time thereafter art in Denmark either was imported from Germany and the Netherlands or Danish artists studied abroad and produced work that was seldom inspired by Denmark itself. From the late 18th century on, the situation changed radically. Beginning with the Danish Golden Age, a distinct tradition of Danish art began and has continued to flourish until today. Due to generous art subsidies, contemporary Danish art has a big production per capita. Though usually not especially a major centre for art production or exporter of art, Denmark has been relatively successful in keeping its art; in particular, the relatively mild nature of the Danish Reformation, and the lack of subsequent extensive rebuilding and redecoration of churches, has meant that with other Scandinavian countries, Denmark has unusually rich survivals of medieval church paintings and fittings. One period when Nordic art exerted a strong influence over the rest of northern Europe was in Viking art, and there are many survivals, both in stone monuments left untouched around the countryside, and objects excavated in modern times. Lurs are a distinctive type of giant curving Bronze Age horn, of which 35 of the 53 known examples have been found in bogs in Denmark, very often in pairs. They are normally made of bronze, and often decorated. A possibly alien find in Denmark is the Gundestrup cauldron, a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date to the 1st century BC. It was found in 1891 in a peat bog near the hamlet of Gundestrup in north-eastern Jutland. The silversmithing of the plates is very skilled. The bowl, 70 cm across, was beaten from a single ingot. Now in the National Museum of Denmark, it is the largest known example of European silver work from the period. The style and workmanship suggest Thracian origin, while the imagery seems Celtic, so it may not reflect local styles. The Germanic Iron Age period of about 400-800 AD is represented by the Golden Horns of Gallehus, now known only from drawings since they were stolen and melted down in 1802, and significant deposits from weapons sacrifice such as that at Illerup Adal, where 15,000 items were found, deposited during the period 200-500. Danish sites have given their names to two of the six main styles of Viking or Norse art, Jelling style and its successor Mammen style, though the other styles are also represented in Denmark. Only one Danish ship burial is known, from Ladbyskibet. The images on the runestones at Jelling are probably the best known Danish works of the period. Although little of their original paint remains today, copies of the largest stone in the National Museum of Denmark and in the museum at Jelling have been redecorated in vivid colours based on the fragments of paint which remained on the original. Main article: Church frescos in Denmark Church wall paintings are to be found in some 600 churches across Denmark, probably representing the highest concentration of surviving church murals anywhere in the world. Most of them date back to the Middle Ages. They lay hidden for centuries as after the Reformation in Denmark, they were covered with limewash only to be revealed and restored during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Of most interest to Danish art are the Gothic paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries as they were painted in a style typical of native Danish painters. Adopting the Biblia pauperum approach, they present many of the most popular stories from the Old and New Testaments in typological juxtapositions. Danish panel painting and painted wood-carving of the late Middle Ages was mostly by, or heavily influenced by, the prevailing North German styles, especially those of Hamburg and other Hanseatic cities.
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