The Carnival in Rome. Fragment

Eckersberg saw the Roman carnival during his time in Rome. Twelve years after his return to Denmark he wished to immortalise his impressions, and went on to paint a number of masked Romans dancing in the streets. A surviving composition sketch shows us that he originally envisioned a long, frieze-like composition (KKS, cf. Paris, 1984, cat. 60; Hornung & Monrad, 2009, 171). However, he never completed the painting, and at some later point a dancing woman (originally situated to the right of Harlequin) was cut off from the main canvas; she is now part of a private collection (Thomas Le Claire, Hamburg). Eckersberg was undoubtedly inspired by the graphic artists Bartolomeo Pinelli and Hjalmar Mörner (Bramsen, 1977–80). The man between the two main protagonists twirls a set of keys and wears a paper sign on his back. Infrared photography (with thanks to Riccardo Buccarella) shows us that the sign originally carried the legend Guardiano de matti (Guardian of the Mad). He has apparently set “the mad” free.