A christening

In his large painting A Christening, Michael Ancher portrays the christening of his daughter Helga, surrounded by godfathers. All the godfathers were members of the artistic community in Skagen; Ancher wanted the “spiritual godfathers” of his daughter present. As time went by he had to replace some of the artists since not all returned to Skagen every summer. His fellow artist Krøyer, though, stands at the very centre of the small assembly .The artist Anna Ancher, mother of the child, holds Helga while Michael Ancher himself completes the group. Belonging to the realist movement, Ancher adds no sacral light to the scene; instead the painter stresses the natural light from the window through a resemblance of the grid in the little window and the pattern in the christening robe. Through the christening, the daughter becomes a child of light. At the same time Ancher sheds light into the room through a great variety of tones of grey, characteristic for the painters of Skagen.