"Mormons Visit a County Carpenter" by Christen Dalsgaard.
Though the painting was not completed in Copenhagen until 1856, a sketch of it
hung in the LARSEN family home in Salt Lake City after they had arrived there in 1853. Family tradition says that members of
the family had been the models for individuals in the painting.
_____________ made the following statement:
"The picture above was published in the Scandinavian Jubilee Album in 1900. In a copy of this book which
is in my possession, my father, William H. Oblad Sr., has written the following comments across the page:
This picture was
loaned to Andrew Jensen by Mother, Mary M Larsen Oblad. This picture hung in my Grandpa Larsen's (Hans Larsen) home in Salt
Lake City when I was a kid. Grandpa would pal with me and stay with me when Daddy O[blad] and Mother O[blad] went to operas and other
shows. I was interested in everything a 4 to 5 year-old would be. Grandpa Larsen would point to these and interpret them to me.
(This would be around 1875). Then, with lines running to a person in the picture, my father has identified the names as follows:
Man standing and preaching, Elder Erastus Snow. Man behind bench, reading, Hans Larsen, his grandfather. Small girl under bench,
age 3, Mary M. Larsen, his mother. Elderly man sitting, Lars Pedersen, father of Hans. Woman in other room, putting her year-old
baby Kierstine into a cradle. Elena Dorthea Larsen, wife of Hans. Girl leaning near door, Elina Hansine Larsen, a daughter of
Hans and Elina Dorthea Larsen.
The small girl, age 3, became the wife of John Frederick Oblad. It may be assumed that the man
standing next to Hans was the Reverand Munster and the Elderly Lady sitting in the center is Han's Larsen's Mother, Maren Porse.
Father told me that this picture was first drawn by charcoal in 1850. Six years later, the Artist painted it in oil. (Christen Dalsgaard)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thank you, Mark Glissmeyer, for the quote. As a child, I, Venita, understood that
the seated girl was Petrine Christine Larsen, sister to Eline Hansine and Marie Magdalene. She is painted as being a blind, rich young woman who
is being led by the prosperous clergyman, modeled after Reverend Mønster mentioned above. The boy seen through the window represents
Carl Oluf Hansen, a son of Hans and Eline Dorothe, who died at the age of five years. Two other children who died as infants are not
represented. If Hans' parents are represented, I believe they would be the man standing next to him, and the woman standing outside the window.
They both died before 1840, so could not have been living models for the artist. However, there may have been painted images for his reference.
|
Hans Larsen
