From today until March 2nd, we the public have the honor of gazing upon Thomas Kluge’s ginormous portrait of the Danish royal family at Christian VIII’s Palace at Amalienborg before it retires to the Fredensborg Palace to live with the family.
Kluge spent four years on his masterpiece, but it hasn’t been well-received. Because it’s, well, kinda creepy. Prince Christian, the young heir to the throne, stands in the foreground, dressed all in black. While the children his age crawl or play with toys, the prince is regal, facing the viewer and standing proudly before his country.
Much like Renaissance paintings, the painting’s perspective adds to the sense of the family’s majesty, their understanding of the land behind them. Sadly the perspective is a little wonky, adding to the sense of doom evoked by Prince Christian’s prematurely darkened eyes. The lighting has too been received critically: why does the prince have such an eery glow about him? Social media users like Great Germ have parodied the portrait with faux movie posters like this one:
Hmmm. Also looks pretty similar to this old Soprano’s poster! My favorite part has to be Princess Isabella and her possessed-looking doll. What’s yours?
Thanks to Social News Daily and Hello Magazine
Images via Social News Daily and Uproxx
