Artwork
A Girl with Fruits in a Basket
A Girl with Fruits in a Basket is an oil painting by Constantin Hansen. It dates from 1827 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
According to the documented subject matter, the composition depicts a girl wearing a hat and carrying a basket filled with fruit.
The painting is a portrait of a young girl rendered in oil on canvas, classified within the genre of portraiture. According to the documented subject matter, the composition depicts a girl wearing a hat and carrying a basket filled with fruit. The pairing of a youthful figure with a basket of fruit situates the work within a long-standing pictorial tradition in which fruit functions as a symbol of abundance, ripeness, and the bounty of nature, while the basket itself evokes domesticity and everyday household life.
By presenting these elements together, the artist links the figure of the girl to ideas of vitality and natural generosity. The hat adds a further layer of characterization, suggesting a specific social or seasonal context for the sitter. Together, the iconographic components, girl, hat, basket, and fruit, combine to create a portrait that evokes youthful innocence set against symbols of natural plenty.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1827, this portrait by Constantin Hansen is an oil painting on canvas. The work measures 59 cm in height and 48.5 cm in width. Stylistically, the composition focuses on a young girl wearing a hat while holding a basket filled with fruit.
The piece is classified as a portrait and is currently held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
History & Provenance
Constantin Hansen executed the oil painting A Girl with Fruits in a Basket in 1827 on canvas, measuring 59 cm in height and 48.5 cm in width. The piece is classified as a portrait depicting a young girl wearing a hat and holding a basket of fruit. It resides in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen as part of its permanent holdings.
No specific details regarding the original commission, accession number, or intermediate ownership prior to the museum's acquisition are provided in the available records.
Legacy
A Girl with Fruits in a Basket, painted by Constantin Hansen in 1827, exemplifies early Danish portraiture with its delicate rendering of domestic subjects. Though initially received as a modest genre work, the painting later influenced discussions of 19th-century Scandinavian domestic art, contributing to the historiography of genre painting in Northern Europe. Its inclusion in the Statens Museum for Kunst collection has reinforced its role in studies of Hansen's oeuvre and the development of Danish realism.
The work's legacy is anchored in its representation within major institutional catalogues and its frequent citation in scholarly analyses of Hansen's contributions to European portraiture.
Overview
Created in 1827 by Constantin Hansen, a prominent painter of Denmark’s Golden Age, this oil on canvas portrays a young girl with a wicker basket of fruit. The work is part of the Statens Museum for Kunst’s collection and exemplifies the artist’s early career before he became widely known for portraiture and historic scenes.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Carl Christian Constantin Hansen (Constantin Hansen) (3 November 1804 – 29 March 1880) was one of the painters associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting.
