Rørbye & Bindesbøll — The Voyage to Constantinople

Some 190 years ago, the Danish painter Martinus Rørbye (1803–1848) and Danish architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll (1800–1856) met in Italy. Both were on extended journeys abroad, and they decided to continue their travels together, proceeding across Italy to the Greek islands and Athens. From there, they had the opportunity to proceed to Turkey, and in mid-December 1835, they arrived in Smyrna (present-day Izmir). After a brief stay there, Rørbye and Bindesbøll set out for Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). There, they each created a significant number of sketches, primarily depicting everyday life and architecture, and both evinced keen interest in the culture and the people they encountered along the way. On 1 February 1836, they left Constantinople to continue their travels. 

 

Rørbye and Bindesbøll’s journey to Constantinople would prove significant for both of them. Rørbye was the first Danish painter to visit Greece and Turkey in the nineteenth century. When he was made a member of the Academy in Copenhagen in 1838, his admission piece was Scene of Public Life in the Orient (1838), its subject based on studies from his travels abroad. In the following years, Rørbye would return repeatedly to his studies and sketches, producing several works associated with Constantinople. 

 

During the years 1839 to 1848, Bindesbøll designed Thorvaldsen’s Museum in Copenhagen, which became his first major architectural achievement. That building would be followed by several designs displaying elements from his studies of Byzantine architecture in Greece and Turkey. Today, Bindesbøll is acclaimed as one of the most important Danish architects working during the transition from Neoclassicism to Historicism. He also became an inspiration for later architects, including Carl Petersen (1874–1923), who, between 1918 and 1920, created distinctive spaces for the collection of Christian Ludvig David, the founder of The David Collection, at Kronprinsessegade 30 in Copenhagen.