Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1981, Page 369

Normandsdalen og de faerøske figurer
377
Normandsdalen staar foran en omfattende restaurering — baade
anlæg og figurer — og de retningslinier, det vil ske efter, vil være
afhængige af udfaldet af de første forsøg.
Figurerne maa antagelig og efterhaanden stilles i hus. Enkelte
vil maaske efter en udtørring og foretaget afformning og efter en
istandsættelse midlertidigt kunne stilles tilbage i anlægget, men de
fleste og heriblandt ogsaa de bedste maa afformes, og de efter
formen støbte figurer, uden retouche, stilles tilbage paa deres plads.
Sker det over en længere aarrække, skulle det gennem et saadant
langsomt skifte blive muligt fortsat at bevare Normandsdalens
enkeltheder og oprindelige karakter — og hele anlægget som ‘et
underfuldt og fortryllende sted’.
SUMMARY
The Norsemen’s Valley in the garden of Fredensborg Castle in north-east
Seeland is a big terraced circular bowl, laid out in the hills bordering the
Esrom lake.
In the center of the bottom is placed the column of victory, and on the two
half parts of the concentric terraces were planted low cut trees. Between them
were erected 57 Norwegian and 10 Faroese figures, mostly couples, representing
farming people and fishermen from different parts of Norway and the Faroe
Islands. 4 Icelandic figures were made but they have totally disappeared.
All the figures were in white painted sandstone (from Gotland) on small
sandstone plinths (from Bornholm) with inscriptions in black.
The whole complex was initiated about 1764 by King Frederic V (1746—1766)
and completed by his widow queen about 1784. When she died in 1796 the
castle was no longer used by the royal family and the maintenance of the garden
and its sculptures faded away. It was not until the middle of the 19th century
restored to some extent.
Travellers visiting Fredensborg in the end of the 18th and at the beginning
of the 19th centuries have given different judgements of the artistic value of
the valley — from disgust to praise. The view of praise is strongly confirmed
through the latest researches.
The sculptor was Johan Gottfried Grund born in Meissen in 1733. As an
apprentice of sculpture he worked in Dresden and Berlin and in 1757 he arrived
in Copenhagen, where in 1762 he was appointed royal court sculptor.
Fascinating about his sandstone sculptures, all about 5V2—6 feet in height,
is that he got his models, at least for the Norwegian part, from small figures
25 — Fróðskaparrit