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THE FLEET O N THE OU TER R O A D S W ITH

THE C ITX IN THE B A C K G R O U N D 1743

D uring the Sw edish succession crisis 1743 Christian V I

considered launching an offen sive against Sweden. W ith

tnat in m ind he armed the biggest fleet w ithin the m emory

of man. The w atercolour - possibly done b y a n aval o f

ficer - depicts all the ships drawn up in battle order; be

neath them he has w ritten the names of the ships and their

captains and the number o f canons. The city is seen from

the northeast, but w as most lik ely not drawn until a year

or tw o after the event, since V o r Frue kirke (the Church

o f O u r Lady) is provided w ith the spire w hich w as com

pleted in December 174 4 ; likew ise he also included the

M ain Guard at N yh olm w ith its flag, although this was

not built until 174 4 -4 5 .

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RRESTR/EDE 1743

O n the occasion of Frederik (V's) m arriage to the English

princess Louise December 1 1 , 174 3, the A dm iralty had a

festival decoration put up in Storrestraede (the present

Holmens Canal). It consisted of tw o columnae rostratae -

columns w ith pierced ships. Such columns were the old

Roman sym bol of victory. M arcus Tuscher supplied the

draw ing for the decoration w h ich w as later placed on

Christiansholm b y the bridge to the A rsen al island (see

cat. no. 102). The large bu ilding on the right housed the

General Comm issariat and had been built 1706 - probably

after a draw ing b y W . F. von Platen. The adjoining struc

ture w as official residence of the Secretary of W ar. But the

facades on the other side o f the street are creations of the

im agination — there were here six in significan t private

houses. In the background the arsenal pavilion on Gam -

melholm . A ll these buildings burnt down in 1795.

Reproduced p. 35.

THE N A V A L A N D L AN D C AD E T COLLEGE 1743

O rigin ally the building w as not meant as a n aval college,

but as an opera house. A fter a disastrous fire in 1689, in

w hich a provision al w ooden opera house in the gardens of

Sophie Am alien b org w as burnt dow n and about 180

people w ere killed, the demand for a more permanent and

less inflamm able house arose, in w h ich the touring opera

companies could perform . The idea w as realised under the

reign of Frederik IV w h o had this hu ge brick house erected

for that purpose 17 0 1-0 2 . The O pera, n ow Ø stre Landsret

(the eastern H igh Court) standing on the corner of Frede-

riciagade and Bredgade, w as then surrounded b y gardens

and w ithdraw n from other houses. A lrea d y about 1720 it

lost its origin al function and w as converted into a military

college. G røn vold, w h o made this etching, began his career

as a land cadet and thus received his education in the

building. The structure n ow differs from the one he de

picted, since in 176 9 a m ezzanine w as inserted and the

entrance portal dim inished.

PRØVESTENEN 1743

In 17 13 tw o batteries w ere built, form ing protruding sea-

forts in defense of C openhagen. T h ey w ere called Trekro-

ner and Prøvestenen, both nam ed after sunken warships

that together w ith other fillin g m aterial formed the foun

dation for the construction. T rekroner w as situated on the

northern point of the R ef peninsula, Prøvestenen more to

the south, across from Am ager. T h ey were not used for

v ery long, Trekroner w as closed dow n in 17 3 1, Prøve

stenen, whose canon house can be seen in this etching, in

176 7. A lrea d y at this time - 174 3 - w ind and weather

have corroded w o odw ork and stone w alls.

40 CO PENH AG EN FROM THE NO R THW E ST c. 1745

In the foreground the district betw een the lakes and the

rampart w ith the tw o approach roads (see cat. no. 9)/

which, how ever, seem to end in the closed-in fortification

since the gates are n ot m arked. There are other inac

curacies: the Opera House (2) w as at this time naval and

land cadet college, the Reform ed Church (5) has no tower,

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