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The engraving depicts a fire drill around the C astle as it
would have looked at the end o f the 17 th century. A l
though it is the fire-fig h tin g w h ich p rim arily cau ght the
interest of the artist, he also ga ve a fa irly accurate de
scription of the m ilieu around the Castle, even if he did
not master perspective. T he v iew is taken from the H øjbro
bridge near the C han cellery, the h a lf gable o f w h ich can
be seen on the left. Behind the Stock Exchange there w as a
canal with a street alon g the qu ay, the present Slotholm s-
gade. The A rtist has carefu lly rendered all the details, in
deed, we can even see w h at tim e it is on the clock of Blå
tårn (the blue tow er). T o the righ t w e h ave the crenellated
gable of the w in g w ith the banqueting hall, and in the
shadow underneath stands the w ooden horse.
22 THE CASTLE SQUARE 1697
23 & 23 A
THE C A ST LE OF CO PENH A G EN 1698
These two gouaches b y Bruun have been included in order
to show that the reliability o f his v iew s is sometimes to be
doubted. Apparen tly th ey are both painted after the same
drawing - a now unkn ow n v iew from 1698 - and in spite
of the meticulousness o f the execution there are quite a
few inexplicable inconsistencies. It m ust be remembered
that as the Castle had been rebuilt 17 2 4 -2 7 Bruun did not
have first-hand kn ow led ge o f w h at the old buildin g had
looked like, but this is n ot a satisfactory explanation o f the
divergences. The v iew cat. no. 23 is the most acceptable,
while 23 A is more enigm atic. There is n othin g to indicate
that the Castle has at a n y tim e been ashlared or that it had
artificial squares and join ts painted on the facades. The
Exchequer has received the same frontdecoration. Both
must be ascribed to B ruun's im agin ation rather than the
actual circumstances. 23 A has a w rou gh t iron gallery on
the tower of the R oyal w in g, w h ile this has been left out
in the other painting.
24 THE BOM BARDM EN T OF CO PENHAGEN 1700
Imm ediately after his accession to the Throne Frederik IV
launched an attack against the Duke of Gottorp. England,
Holland, and France had guaranteed the in tegrity of the
duchy and consequently sent down a huge fleet through
the Sound. A t the same time Carl XII prepared for w ar in
Skane. The engraving depicts the situation on July 25th
and 26th, 1700, when the enemy bombed Christianshavn,
w hich was hardly damaged, however. The perspective over
the city is seen from high up in the air, and it reveals a
thorough know ledge of the topography of Copenhagen;
thus the fortification is corrcetly delineated w ith its new
bastions (completed 1692), stretching in a sem i-circle from
Kalvebod round Christianshavn to H ukket opposite the
Citadel. That the artist had an intimate know ledge of the
city centre can be seen from his accurate indication of for
example the situation of the private mansions (the German
text on the left). W ith the exception of this, the view is
n aturally quite summary.
25 THE FUNERAL PROCESSION OF CHR ISTIAN
GYLDEN L
0
VE PA SSING KONGENS N Y TO R V
1703
Christian G yldenlove died 29 years old, and as the K ing's
son he received an extremely grandiose funeral, immor
talized in a book w ith etchings illustrating the ceremony.
In this etching we see the procession pass Kongens N ytorv
(the K ing's new square) on its w a y to V or Frue kirke (the
Church of O ur Lady). It is the first picture of the square
which was laid out in 1670, and of the m ilieu surrounding
it. W e see Krinsen w ith its new ly planted trees and La-
moreux' equestrian statue of Christian V , put up 1688.
The canal at N yh avn had been constructed 1 6 7 1-7 3 , and
the houses on its left side were built in the years follow in g
imm ediately after. To the far left we see the N iels Juel
House, the facade of w hich is embellished w ith mourning
decorations. Behind Krinsen Charlottenborg and the naval
sail loft, and to the right we see one half of G jethuset -
the canon foundry.
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