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Danish and not, in general, gloomy

From the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford
Sir, — In his recent reference to the Royal Academy Hammershøi exhibition (Arts, 22 August), the Revd Dr Nicholas Cranfield stated that Hammershøi was Norwegian. In fact, he was Danish, and was born, brought up, and studied in Copenhagen.

His teacher was Niels Christian Kierkegaard, second cousin of the more famous writer, Søren Kierke­gaard, and Dr Cranfield may be suspected of projecting popular prejudices about Kierkegaard’s Scandinavian gloom (perhaps with an added shot of Munch, Strind­berg, and Bergman) on to Ham­mershøi himself.

Far from suggesting something dark going on beneath the surface, as Dr Cranfield suggests, Hammer­shøi’s work is simply attentive in a unique degree to the quality of Scandinavian light, while the lack of action in his work reflects not psychological dread, but the quiet, modest, and humble virtues that — far more than melancholic gloom — characterise Danish life.
GEORGE PATTISON
Christ Church
Oxford OX1 1DP

From the Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford
Sir, — I regret that in my haste (Letters, 29 August), I made an error that needs correcting: Sir Hugo Brunner is an Anglican, not a Roman Catholic. My apologies to him do not reflect any aspersion on the Church of England or the Church of Rome, merely regret at my inadvertence.
DIARMAID MacCULLOCH
Faculty of Theology
41 Saint Giles
Oxford OX1 3LW



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