Copenhagen 1786

One of my favorite depictions of Copenhagen in the 18th century is this wonderful gouache of the city in 1786, painted by M. Bang.

While the tower and spires are immediately recognisable for anyone familiar with the city skyline today, everything else has been through an 18th century Photoshop-edit. Almost all houses appear freshly chalked in pure white and everything is generally in great order.

The king’s navy is ready close to the city, #26, and at least two warships are guarding the entrance to the harbour among a myriad of smaller ships, including two British trading vessels.

The intent is clearly to show the magnificence of the city rather than a realistic picture of the small and crowded capital.

Of particular interest to this project is #20, which is called the East Indian Company at the bottom of the image, but really is the headquarters of the Royal Chartered Danish Asiatic Company in Christianshavn.

Compared to this image of the main building, which still exists today, it is clear that the depiction is not too precise, but at least the general layout of the building and the number of chimneys match 🙂

The image comes from the Maritime Museum of Denmark, and in the museum image archive, the old gouache is available at even higher resolution.