Model Drawings

The Library’s collection of model drawings consists of over 900 drawings executed either by pupils or professors in connection with teaching at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Chronologically the collection covers the first 100 years after the founding of the Academy in 1754. The absolutely central figures in Danish figurative art are represented in the collection, such as Nicolai Abildgaard, C.W. Eckersberg, Christen Købke, Constantin Hansen, E.H. Freund, Dankvart Dreyer and Wilhelm Marstrand. More

What does the collection contain?

The collection holds more than 900 drawings from live models and other types of model, mostly plaster casts of ancient sculpture from the Academy’s collection.

In addition to model drawings executed by the Academy’s pupils, the collection contains the drawings done by the professors to be copied in class by the pupils.

The collection is inextricably bound up with the teaching of art at the Academy. The teaching was divided into three levels: 1) The Schools of Freehand Drawing, where the pupils copied drawings or drew from prints, 2) The Plaster School, where the pupils drew from plaster casts, 3) and the so-called Model School, where the drawing was from life.

Every month the professors at the Model School would change the model – be it a living human being or an inanimate object – and judge the pupils’ work. Several of the collection’s drawings have therefore, been signed by the professor in charge. Many of the works are anonymous, others bear only the name of the pupil, while still others have the name of the pupil and the professor concerned.

What can I use the collection for?

The Collection documents the academic method of teaching, the significance of practice drawings and, not least, the changes in drawing style, technique and materials in the first 100 years of the Academy’s history. Furthermore the collection makes it possible to study the very earliest works by a number of important Danish artists.

How do I find the material?

You find the material by searching in the library catalogue under ”modeltegninger” (model drawings), possibly combined with the name of the artist.

Digital versions

All drawings are digitalized