Artwork
Portrait of Otto Marstrand's two daughters and their nanny
Portrait of Otto Marstrand's two daughters and their nanny is an oil painting by the Realist artist Wilhelm Marstrand. It dates from 1857 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition and vivid colour scheme draw attention to Justina, making her the visual focus despite her subordinate social status.
The painting shows Otto Marstrand's two daughters, Emily Ottilie and Annie Lætitia, standing beside their West-Indian governess Justina in the gardens of Frederiksberg. Both girls wear matching blue-green dresses, while Justina is placed centrally, dressed in a white gown, scarlet shawl and yellow headscarf that contrast sharply with the surrounding foliage. The composition and vivid colour scheme draw attention to Justina, making her the visual focus despite her subordinate social status.
This unusual emphasis reflects the complex social hierarchy of 19th-century Danish-West-Indian domestic service and the lingering legacy of slavery after its 1848 abolition.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on canvas, a medium typical of Wilhelm Marstrand's mid-nineteenth-century practice. The support is a rectangular canvas measuring approximately 89 cm high by 67 cm wide. Marstrand handles the paint with a smooth, detailed brushwork that renders the fabrics of the daughters' blue-green dresses, Justina's white dress, scarlet shawl and yellow headscarf with careful attention to texture and light.
Stylistically, the painting presents a group portrait set in Frederiksberg Gardens; the composition places the Black nanny Justina at the visual centre, a striking departure from contemporary conventions. Her dark skin, the vivid white, red and yellow garments, and the contrasting blue-green background create a bold colour scheme that underscores her central role while the surrounding figures are rendered in more subdued tones.
History & Provenance
The painting was commissioned by Otto Jacob Marstrand in 1857, while visiting Copenhagen with his family from Deens-West-Indië. Marstrand stayed with his brother, the artist Wilhelm Marstrand, who created the group portrait in the gardens of Frederiksberg during this visit.
It remained in family ownership: first inherited by the eldest daughter Emily Ottilie, then by her daughter Edna, and subsequently by Edna's granddaughter. The latter consigned the work for sale in 2017. On 30 May 2017 the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, purchased it at auction for 900,000 DKK (approximately €120,000).
The painting is held by the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. The museum acquired the work at auction on May 30, 2017, for 900,000 Danish kroner (approximately €120,000), marking its first transfer from the Marstrand family since its creation. Prior to this acquisition, the artwork had a limited exhibition history, appearing publicly only twice: in 1859 and again in 1898.
Context
The 1857 group portrait is considered unusual for its time because it grants a black woman, the West Indian nanny Justina, a central compositional and chromatic role rather than relegating her to the margins. Scholars note that while employing black nannies remained common in the Danish West Indies even after slavery's abolition in 1848, depicting such a figure as the undeniable focal point of a family portrait was highly exceptional, with few known parallels. The painting remained in the family until 2017, when the Statens Museum for Kunst acquired it at auction for 900,000 DKK, having been exhibited publicly only twice before (1859 and 1898).
Its recent museum acquisition signals growing scholarly and institutional attention to colonial and racial dynamics in nineteenth-century Danish art.
Overview
Wilhelm Marstrand, a prominent figure of the Danish Golden Age, completed this oil painting in 1857. Titled Portrait of Otto Marstrand's two daughters and their nanny, the work captures a domestic scene featuring the artist's two nieces alongside their caregiver. It exemplifies the era's focus on intimate, realistic depictions and is housed at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Nicolai Wilhelm Marstrand (24 December 1810 – 25 March 1873), painter and illustrator, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to Nicolai Jacob Marstrand, instrument maker and inventor, and Petra Othilia Smith.
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