Christian II is one of Denmark’s most fascinating kings – and the first Danish king to properly use visual art to promote himself and his political agendas. In the exhibition you can explore how he used art as a tool to aid his political strategies.

Christian II (1481-1559) is famous as the king who married into one of the most powerful noble houses of Europe, angered the aristocracy, lost his crown and was banished from the country. At the same time he had to navigate between the old Catholic Church and the new Lutheran faith. And Christian II was the first Danish king to extensively use pictures in his efforts to promote himself and his political agendas.

In the exhibition you can delve into and explore how Christian II used pictures strategically – both while he was still king and when he was exiled, striving in vain to reclaim his lost realms.

Christian II used paintings and prints – especially – to get his message out to all relevant persons. And he used the most famous artists of the age for his propaganda.

The exhibition features paintings, drawings, engravings and woodcuts by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Jan Gossart, Michiel Sittow and Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Christian II was a man of vision. He wanted to bring the Nordic realms together as one. Indeed, by 1520 he had become ruler of Denmark, Norway and Sweden/Finland. However, he was deposed in 1523 and went into exile in the Netherlands, where he plotted to reclaim his realms.

During Christian II’s time in exile in the Netherlands from 1523 to 1531, his key goal was to reclaim power. He needed to persuade rulers as well as the bourgeoisie that he had been unjustly deposed, and that his noble efforts to reclaim the throne deserved support. Pictures became one of his most important tools in this struggle.

Inspired by his Habsburg family, who were experts at communicating through pictures, Christian II used paintings and – especially – prints, both engravings and woodcuts, to get his message out to all relevant persons. And he used the most famous artists of the age for his propaganda.

Even though Christian II’s made extensive efforts to reclaim his throne, he never succeeded. During one of his attempts, in 1532, he was captured by the new king, Frederick I, and lived the rest of his life in captivity until his death in 1559.