Figure 1.-- Here is a delightful vintage portrait by Danish arrtist Hans Christian Jensen, depicting a thoughtful-looking boy, wearing a sailor suit and holding a small slate (blackboard) in his hands. Boys often wore sailor suits to school where slates like the boy is holding were commonly used. There is something written on the late. We can make out the date which is 1895, but we are unsure about the word written there. Click on the image to see if you can make it out. A reader thinks it says Greenland.

Here is a delightful vintage portrait by Danish arrtist Hans Christian Jensen, depicting a thoughtful-looking boy, wearing a sailor suit and holding a small slate (blackboard) in his hands. Boys often wore sailor suits to school where slates like the boy is holding were commonly used. The boy is seen half length while sitting in an upholstered chair. He is looking directly towards the viewer. The portrait is signed and dated 1895. He was a pupil of Vilhelm Marstrand, along with Otto Bache and Vilhelm Rosenstand, and he repreatedly exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. Besides he exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878. A reader writes, "I believe that the word on the slate in the portrait here which appears to be "Grland," may be an abbreviation for Greenland. The artist was Danish, and Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. This makes it more likely that there may have been some relationship to Greenland in the picture. I have occassionally seen Greenland abbreviated "Grland." The Danish word for Greenland is Gronland spelled with a letter which looks like an "o" with a slash through it."

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Created: 2:57 AM 5/8/2006
Last updated: 8:38 PM 3/5/2007