Marina Vidas // Animals at the Danish Court: The Power and Frailty of Beasts in Early Modern Paintings from Danish Collections, c. 1600–1700
The goal of the project is to complete research for a catalogue (working title "Animals at the Danish Court: The Power and Frailty of Beasts in Early Modern Paintings from Danish Collections, c. 1600-c. 1700"). The catalogue is concerned with representation of animals in paintings commissioned or acquired by members of the Danish royal family, primarily during the seventeenth century. It will focus on works chiefly held in the Royal Danish Collection, Rosenborg Castle, and the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK), executed largely by German, Dutch, Flemish, and Danish artists. The catalog will examine and discuss two interrelated themes that are divided into subtopics: animals as main subjects (e.g., portraits of animal companions, violent combat scenes, and still lifes of dead and bloodied beasts) and animals as accessories in human portraits (conveying wealth, authority, gender, status, and interspecies affinities). Additionally, it will contain separate catalog entries that reexamine previous attributions, provide provenances, and up to date bibliographic references. Informed by contemporary theoretical perspectives on human–animal relations, the study will situate these representations within the broader cultural, philosophical, and artistic discourses of the seventeenth century, highlighting evolving attitudes toward animals as sentient beings.
The project seeks to fill gaps in existing scholarship, cast new light on images of animals in
Danish collections and foster academic dialogue through a planned interdisciplinary conference at Copenhagen University in 2026. In doing so, it will offer new insights into an under-examined aspect of Danish court life and visual culture.