Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-1958)
The Old Poorhouse in Hestemøllestræde, 1888
Oil on canvas

In September 1887, J.F. Willumsen was recalled for a month of additional compulsory military service in Elsinore. This was presumably when he found the subject of this painting, the Carmelite House in Elsinore, which at that time functioned as a poorhouse.

The painting is among the first pictures in which Willumsen sought to depict a topographically correct view of a city. He has focused on the architecture, depicting it with well-proportioned use of perspective, as well as on the special atmosphere that pervade in the wintery, snow-covered urban space. Overall, the painting is a good example of Willumsen’s mastery of the naturalistic style in which he was trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in the years 1881 to 1885, and which continued to be palpable in his art until the late 1880s.

The year in which this painting was created – 1888 – was a landmark year for Willumsen. At the major exhibition of French art initiated by the brewer and art collector Carl Jacobsen, Willumsen first became acquainted with a substantial selection of modern French art. In the autumn, Willumsen set out for France on what was to be his first long trip abroad, a journey which would prompt significant changes to his art (B 453).