Doors Randers

Nicolai Hammer

This graphite drawing was done by the Danish artist Nicolai Hammer during the time he was living in London and was working with British printmaker William Palmer Robins, who was trained as an architect.

Hammer's interest in the work of American-born British painter/printmaker James Abbott McNeill Whistler is obvious in this dark interior passageway seen through a light saturated wall, a motif Whistler explored with great success in many of his etchings such as "Doorway 4, Venice" and "Traghetto", both done around 1879-80.

Randers is a city on Denmark's Jutland peninsula which became a thriving market town in medieval times, and many of its 15th-century half-timbered houses remain today.

The drawing is from the collection of Danish critic and author Georg Bröchner, who wrote for the British art magazine "The Studio" in the early 20th century. The drawing is dedicated to Bröchner in the lower right corner.