Otto Bache: View from Knippelsbro (Knippel Bridge). Study. Unsigned. Oil on canvas. 30.5×43 cm.

“Knippelsbro”. View from Knippelsbro (Knippel Bridge). Study. Unsigned. Oil on canvas. 30.5×43 cm.

The painting is a study for “På Knippelsbro, efterårsmorgen” from 1877, which is mentioned in Weilbach's Biographical Dictionary of Artists. Bache apparently produced several versions of this motif, which depicts a miller's carriage crossing Knippel Bridge in Copenhagen. The miller's carriage, the ship berthed on the right, and the building seen behind the scene unfolding, belonged to the person who commissioned the painting, Jacob Rudolph Schmith (1836–1913). The merchant, Schmith, was also the manager of United Steam Mills in Copenhagen (Forenede Københavnske Dampmøller), and the leaseholder of Sortedam's Mill.

Exhibited: Foreningen for National Kunst, “Otto Bache 1839–1927”, 1964 no. 101.

Literature: Peter Christiansen and V. Jastrau, “Otto Bache. Malerier, Studier og Tegninger”, 1928, reproduced fig. 75 (the final painting reproduced fig. 77).

Provenance: Merchant A. C. Illum, Vedbæk. Bruun Rasmussen auction 497, 1987 no. 62 (reproduced p. 113).

Condition Report:
Retouches. Minimal crackles and minor peelings. The canvas needs tightening. In need of cleaning.