Artwork
Amtsprovst i Sorø, senere biskop i Århus, P.H. Mønster
Amtsprovst i Sorø, senere biskop i Århus, P.H. Mønster is an oil painting by Jørgen Roed. It dates from 1828 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Overview
Jørgen Roed’s 1828 oil portrait records Peter Hans Mønster, who served as the district provost of Sorø before his appointment as bishop of Århus. Executed in the early phase of Roed’s career, the work belongs to the Danish Golden Age of painting and is presently conserved by the Statens Museum for Kunst.
Subject & Meaning
The canvas presents Mønster as an elderly cleric with a rounded face, pale hair, and a solemn expression. He is dressed in a black ecclesiastical robe trimmed with a high white collar, and a silver medal on a red ribbon rests on his chest, signalling his official rank within the church hierarchy.
Technique & Style
Roed employs a restrained chiaroscuro, allowing a focused light source to illuminate the figure’s face and garment while the surrounding background recedes into darkness. The subtle modelling of flesh tones and the crisp rendering of the medal demonstrate the artist’s attention to material detail and his adherence to the realist tendencies of the period.
History & Provenance
Completed in 1828, the portrait entered the national collection of Denmark’s Statens Museum for Kunst, where it remains on display. Its acquisition reflects the museum’s 19th‑century effort to document prominent ecclesiastical figures and to preserve works by leading Danish portraitists of the era.
Context
Roed, born in Ringsted in 1808, was active during a time when Danish art emphasized clear representation and moral seriousness. Portraits of clergy such as Mønster were common commissions, serving both as personal commemoration and as visual affirmations of the church’s societal role in early‑19th‑century Denmark.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jørgen Roed (13 January 1808 – 8 August 1888), Danish portrait and genre painter associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting, was born in Ringsted to Peder Jørgensen Roed and wife, Ellen Hansdatter.
P.H. Mønster, Rural Dean in Sorø, later Bishop of Aarhus
The Theologian Andreas Gottlob Rudelbach
Portrait of Dr. Cornelis Hendrik à Roy, Physician and Biographer
Professor, dr. med. J.D. Herholdt
Portrait of Stephan Eiselin (d. 1549)
Professor, dr. med. J.D. Herholdt
Pastor Jens Bindesbøll
Portrait of Petrus Albertus van der Parra (1714-1775)
Portrait of an Old Woman
Portrait of the Physicist Hans Christian Ørsted
Portrait of Edward Szydłowski
An old Man in 17th-century Dress