Masters/Frans Schwartz
Agony in the Garden, 1898
Oil on canvas
Altarpiece, Nørresundby Church, Denmark
A wing of the gallery
Frans Schwartz
1850–1917 · Denmark
A Copenhagen painter and etcher, little known outside Denmark until his Agony in the Garden opened BYU's Sacred Gifts exhibition.
01
A Copenhagen life
Frans Schwartz was born in Copenhagen on July 19, 1850, the son of an art dealer. He studied with C.V. Nielsen before entering the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1866. In 1874 he made his debut at Charlottenborg with a large cartoon of Job and his friends, and in 1876 he exhibited a painting of the sick and frail seeking healing from Jesus.
He traveled through Europe, especially Spain, in 1878, and later painted ceilings at Frederiksborg Castle, the same castle where Bloch’s paintings hang.
Sources: Wikipedia, Frans Schwartz · Danish Wikipedia, Frans Schwartz
The Annunciation, 1899
Etching
SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS7630)
02
The angel who flew to Provo
His towering altarpiece Agony in the Garden (1898) belongs to the church in Nørresundby, in northern Denmark. When BYU’s Museum of Art borrowed it for Sacred Gifts in 2013, the congregation chose not to hang a print in its place. Curator Dawn Pheysey said they left the wall empty “to remind them that their absent angel has a duty elsewhere, but will return to them soon.”
Pheysey called it “the most powerful of the exhibition” and described “the angel’s wings holding back the darkness, even just for a moment.”
Sources: BYU Magazine, Works of Grace · Deseret News, 'Sacred Gifts' paintings bring history, stories to Provo
The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, 1915–1917
Oil on canvas
Image from the Bruun Rasmussen auction house, Copenhagen
03
Altarpieces and etchings
Schwartz painted the panels of the altarpiece designed by the architect H.B. Storck for the Church of Our Lady in Aalborg, set in place in 1908. He also made etchings, and SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark, keeps several of his religious prints. He died on February 13, 1917, and is buried in Copenhagen’s Assistens Cemetery.
Sources: Danish Wikipedia, Vor Frue Kirke (Aalborg) · Norwegian Wikipedia, Vor Frue kirke (Aalborg) · Wikipedia, Frans Schwartz
Mary, the Christ Child and Joseph on Christmas Morning, 1901
Etching
SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS7641)
The rooms
6 works, in the order of His life
Hung by the Gospel moment they show, across 5 rooms of the Gallery Walk.
2. Be It unto Me
The Annunciation, 1899
Etching
SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS7630)
2. Be It unto Me
The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, 1915–1917
Oil on canvas
Image from the Bruun Rasmussen auction house, Copenhagen
5. No Room in the Inn
Mary, the Christ Child and Joseph on Christmas Morning, 1901
Etching
SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS7641)
54. The Ten Virgins
The Wise and Foolish Virgins, 1894
Oil on canvas
Image from the Bruun Rasmussen auction house, Copenhagen
58. Not My Will, but Thine
Agony in the Garden, 1898
Oil on canvas
Altarpiece, Nørresundby Church, Denmark
61. I Find in Him No Fault
Altarpiece of the Church of Our Lady, Aalborg, 1908
Paintings in a carved altar designed by H.B. Storck
Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke), Aalborg
See the originals
Where the works are
Nørresundby Church
Nørresundby, Denmark
Agony in the Garden (1898), the altarpiece BYU borrowed for Sacred Gifts. Source: Deseret News, 'Sacred Gifts' paintings bring history, stories to Provo.
Google MapsGoogle EarthChurch of Our Lady
Aalborg, Denmark
The altarpiece designed by H.B. Storck with paintings by Schwartz (1908). Source: Norwegian Wikipedia, Vor Frue kirke (Aalborg).
Google MapsGoogle EarthSMK, the National Gallery of Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Schwartz's etchings of the Annunciation and Christmas morning.
Google MapsGoogle Earth