A Beech Wood in May near Iselingen Manor, Zealand  1857

Around 1820 the poet Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850) wrote his tribute to Denmark, Der er et yndigt land, which only a few decades later became the lyrics of Denmark’s national anthem. The last stanzas in the song pay homage to the beech as a symbol of the nation. [br] During the same period, P.C. Skovgaard’s preferred motif was the sunlit Danish beech forest. He was inf...