The Devil's Cleft at Liselund Manor. The Island of Møn

Here, Eckersberg has depicted one of the most romantic and picturesque views of the garden at the manor of Liselund. The central motif – the cleft with the small waterfall – is framed by lush trees, and the artist thereby adheres to the structures prescribed for picturesque painting (cf. Mortensen 2011). Eckersberg seems to have looked to a slightly older fellow student, Kersting, for inspiration; around 1808 Kersting did two park landscapes from Frederiksberg Gardens using a portrait format; an unusual choice for a landscape painting. He had the good fortune to sell those paintings to Christian Frederik (now the Museum of Copenhagen, on long-term loan to SMK, and the Museum der Stadt Güstrow). Kersting may have given Eckersberg the idea to paint this view of the romantic gardens of Liselund (cf. Monrad 2000). The structure of the two paintings shares definite affinities, and in both cases nature, in the form of carefully cultured parkland, is being observed by strollers.