Artwork
Still Life With Game
Still Life With Game is an oil painting by Johan Laurentz Jensen. It dates from 1846 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Overview
Johan Laurentz Jensen’s 1846 oil work *Still Life With Game* belongs to the still‑life tradition and is part of the Statens Museum for Kunst’s collection. Though Jensen is chiefly remembered for floral compositions, this canvas records a hunting tableau, presenting a group of game animals arranged on a forest floor.
Subject & Meaning
The composition brings together a deer, a fox and several birds, positioned amid a hinted woodland backdrop of trees and foliage. By gathering the quarry in a single view, the painting reflects the 19th‑century fascination with the bounty of the hunt and the natural world’s visual richness.
Technique & Style
Jensen employs a restrained palette to model form, using light that falls from the left to generate chiaroscuro across the bodies and the ground. The resulting shadows give the figures a palpable volume, while careful brushwork renders fur and feather textures with convincing detail.
History & Provenance
Created in 1846, the canvas entered the Danish national collection and now resides at the Statens Museum for Kunst. Its presence in the museum underscores Jensen’s broader oeuvre beyond flowers, illustrating his versatility within Danish academic painting of the period.
Context
The work aligns with a European tradition of hunting still lifes that flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, echoing earlier Dutch and Flemish examples. Jensen’s approach updates this lineage through a mid‑19th‑century sensibility, balancing realistic observation with a composed, almost theatrical arrangement of the game.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Johan Laurentz Jensen, often referred to as J. L. Jensen (8 March 1800 – 26 March 1856), was a Danish artist who specialized in flower painting.
