Magt og afmagt: Christian II's billedpolitik = Pictures and power : the visual politics of Christian II

Abstract

Christian II is one of Denmark's most fascinating kings, and the first Danish king to properly use visual art to promote himself and his political agendas. In the exhibition you can explore how he used art as a tool to aid his political strategies. Christian II (1481-1559) is famous as the king who married into one of the most powerful noble houses of Europe, angered the aristocracy, lost his crown and was banished from the country. At the same time he had to navigate between the old Catholic Church and the new Lutheran faith. And Christian II was the first Danish king to extensively use pictures in his efforts to promote himself and his political agendas. In the exhibition you can delve into and explore how Christian II used pictures strategically, both while he was still king and when he was exiled, striving in vain to reclaim his lost realms. Christian II used paintings and prints "especially" to get his message out to all relevant persons. And he used the most famous artists of the age for his propaganda. The exhibition features paintings, drawings, engravings and woodcuts by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Jan Gossart, Michiel Sittow and Lucas Cranach the Elder. Exhibition: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark (10.06.-10.09.2017).