CHAPTER 17. As Time Passed by Came Sunset. Christen Købke's View of Lake Sortedam, its Genesis and Colour Changes

The painting View of Lake Sortedam from Dosseringen Looking towards the Suburb Norrebro outside Copenhagen from 1838 by the Danish artist Christen Kobke was subjected to technical investigation by IR imaging techniques, cross section analysis, XRF analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. The genesis of the painting is described as well as the results of the pigment analyses suggesting colour changes in certain areas of the composition related to deterioration of the pigment Prussian blue. The admixture of the blue pigment with white as a determining factor in the fading is proposed, and reports from experimental studies and early documentary sources regarding the permanence of Prussian blue are cited. The implications of the colour changes for the interpretation of the image are suggested.