Portrait of My Wife, the Painter Anna Ancher

Portrait of My Wife, the Painter Anna Archer is an 1884 painting by Michael Ancher, now in the Hirschsprung Collection.[1]

She is shown looking through an open door, with a wedding ring on her right hand and her husband's dog looking at Anna's pregnancy bump - the study for the work was painted in summer 1883[2] and she gave birth to their daughter Helga that August. One of P.S. Krøyer's first pastel drawings of painters at work (which became a major feature of his oeuvre) was Michael Ancher Painting the Portrait of Anna, Standing at the Door, showing Ancher producing the final version of Portrait.[3] It was exhibited in Copenhagen in 1884, with the depiction of pregnancy causing some controversy, though the theme of the artist's wife soon became popular among other Danish painters.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Catalogue entry for the final work" (in Danish).
  2. ^ "Catalogue entry for the study" (in Danish).
  3. ^ (in Danish) 24 værker - Anchers Hus, information leaflet at the Michael og Anna Anchers Hus
  4. ^ "Histories - Artists' Wives : Statens Museum for Kunst" (in Danish).