Historical
Treasures
The palace reopens this May, following extensive restoration. Once embedded within ornate interiors, historical paintings will be given fresh life in newly renovated exhibition spaces. Spectacular eighteenth-century portraits from the Estate’s collection will go on display, with works by leading artist of the period Jens Juel and masterpieces by painter to the Danish Royal Court, Carl Gustaf Pilo.
On the palace’s ground floor, the delicate stucco of the King’s Room provides the frame for five mid-seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century royal equestrian portraits, while the Tapestry Room presents a group of c. 1700 Flemish verdure textiles, rich with botanical detail.
Some of Valdemars Slot’s most cherished works are reserved for the Garden Room, where a group of striking portraits by Carl Gustaf Pilo (SE, 1711–93) and Jens Juel (DK, 1745–1802) conjure two generations of the palace’s owners and inhabitants.
The magnificent Ballroom houses three specially commissioned royal portraits by Pilo, which have hung at VS for centuries. These rare paintings will be rediscovered in the context of an installation by Czech-German artist, Jiří Georg Dokoupil. Bringing together sculptures and paintings from his renowned Soap-Bubble series, the works’ sinuous curves and gilded glamour playfully echo the rococo portraits.
Carl Gustaf Pilo
Swedish (1711–93)
Valdemars Slot’s unique collection of paintings by Pilo were made specially for the halls in which they still hang.
The Ballroom at Valdemars Slot is dominated by three magnificent royal portraits by Carl Gustaf Pilo, created by the artist c. 1751 specifically for the grand hall. Depicting Frederik V (1746–66) and his two queens, the paintings were likely a personal gift by the King himself to Valdemars Slot’s soon-to-be owner, Carl Juel (1706–67).
With their dramatic curves and pastel colour palette, these works are exquisite examples of the rococo style that Pilo is credited to have popularised in Denmark (1746–55). The light vitality of Louis XV’s aesthetic symbolised a new reign in Denmark. Following the Pietism of the previous king, Christian VI (1730–46), Frederik V ushered in an era of free expression and prosperity for the arts. Flamboyant frames by British-born Danish sculptor Simon Carl Stanley (1703–61) combine with delicate stucco to complete the hall’s majestic atmosphere.
Whilst the portraits were designed to convey a sense of stable authority, power in the Danish Court was far from predictable. Pilo’s illustrious career would come to a sharp close in 1772. After the Swedish King Gustav III’s coup d’état turned the Danes against his birth country, Pilo was forced out of Denmark. Carl Juel and his first wife found themselves similarly ousted from court in 1754, apparently due to the machinations of a jealous fellow statesman.
Whilst Pilo’s most famous paintings almost exclusively depict male subjects, Valdemars Slot’s portrait of Anne Margrethe Juel (1741–61) is widely considered to be one of his most beautiful. Upon seeing this painting for the first time, Danish writer H.C. Andersen (1805–75) was captivated, declaring in a letter that she was the “first female face that has touched my heart.”
Married off at the age of seventeen to her father’s cousin – fifty-two year old Carl Juel – Anne Margrethe would live barely two years into her new marriage. The painting’s sharp angles and eerie moonlight seem to point to the young woman’s tragic death, in the year the portrait was made.
The portrait itself almost suffered a tragic end when it disappeared during a family dispute in 2021. VS’s owner Louise Iuel-Brockdorff Albinus pursued and finally rescued the painting, with the help of a 1923 ruling which stated that – in light of its cultural significance – it must remain at VS. Whilst many of the furnishings taken with it were never recovered, Louise finally reclaimed the portrait in 2024, clumsily taped inside a wooden crate. This recent history speaks to the legal structures and dedicated individuals that work to keep precious historical artefacts on public view.
Highlights of the Permanent Collection
Louise Charlotte Juel (1761–1817), 1780s
Framed in the popular Louis XVI oval style, this portrait typifies Jens Juel’s (1745–1802) elegant paintings for the Danish Royal Court. Depicting the wife of Valdemars Slot‘s then owner Frederik Juel (1761–1827), this portrait would have been the ultimate status symbol. Influenced by Enlightenment thinking of the time, such as that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1711–78), Juel was innovative for his naturalistic approach and focus on the individual character of his sitters.
The Battle of Køge Bay, 1677
Among the treasures from Niels Juel’s (1629–97) time, this monumental painting commemorates the famous naval battle that brought VS into the current owner’s family. Drawing on Johan Huusman’s original engraving and a text by Daniel Paulli, the anonymous artist shows Juel above the battle that won the Danish-Norwegian alliance control of the Baltic Sea. Clothed in an elaborate wig and regalia signifying the Order of the Elephant, his significance in this decisive victory is clear.
Niels Juel’s Ship’s Chest, 1650s
The closest thing to home that Niels Juel (1629–97) had in his mid-twenties was the ship’s chest that accompanied him aboard during his time in the Dutch navy (1652–56). Juel and his chest likely survived not only battles of the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–54), but also against North African pirates (1654–56). Papered with copper etchings by Dutch masters, its decoration spans stately buildings with rural landscapes and lessons from the Bible.
