photo #5344061

In this rural scene by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the ‘Father of Danish painting’, an otherwise ordinary farm is given a dramatic backdrop of dark Cumulonimbus storm clouds framed by vibrant rainbows. From a cloudspotter’s point of view, this depiction of a storm and optical effect is all well observed except for one glaring error. The outer, secondary, bow has been painted with the order of its colours matching that of the primary bow: red on the outside and violet on the inner. Doh! Any fool knows the secondary bow always has its colours reversed, with the red on the inside and violet on the out. The same mistake was made by several of Eckersberg’s contemporaries along with many other artists throughout the centuries. Zero marks all round, is what we say, for copying each other’s work instead of simply looking up.Farm in Spejlsby on Møn (1810) by Danish painter Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, in the collection of the Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany.