View from the Embankment of Lake Sortendam

Documentation:

When Købke’s Lake Sortendam was exhibited in 1839, one Danish critic objected to his choice of subject:

“In almost all his latest work this artist has distinguished himself by conscientious truth and simplicity, but unfortunately also by a conspicuous indifference to his choice of subjects; the latter is highly regrettable as nature possesses much that is dull and ignoble which cannot serve as a worth object for art.”

Anonymous reviewer in Portefeuillen (5 May 1939); translated and cited in David Jackson, Christien Købke, Danish Master of Light (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 2010), 82.