47 / 196
Mølsted, end Fr. Landt selv har oplyst. Avisartikel i Lokal-
historisk Arkiv, Nysteds Landt-arkiv.
9.
Benny Boysen: Skibsportrætmaleren Peder Christian Pe-
dersen.
FRAM – Fra Ringkøbing Amts Museer 1986, s. 23.
10.
Otto Ludwig: Lodsmaler Landt.
Vikingen nr. 6 1948.
11.
Malerens brev til hustruen i forfatterens Landt-arkiv.
12.
Ludwig op. cit.: 1948.
13.
Oplyst ved forfatterens interview med Otto Stoltenberg
1979.
14.
Ludwig op. cit.: 1948.
15.
Interview med Fr. Landt i
Vikingen
februar 1955 i anled-
ning af malerens 70-års dag.
16.
Privat brev fra lægen i forfatterens Landt-arkiv.
Summary
Frants Landt – sea pilot and marine artist
Danish sea pilot and marine artist Frants Landt (1885-
1975) was born in Nysted, Lolland in a family of fishermen
and sealers. He started at sea at the age of 14 and gained
his certificate as a ship’s mate in 1907 from the school of
navigation at Bogø. Here he became engaged to Alma, his
teacher’s daughter. He participated as an officer in expedi-
tions to Greenland on board barques belonging to the Royal
Greenlandic Trade Company, until, in 1909, he became an
apprentice at the pilot company in Copenhagen. After fin-
ishing his education in 1912, he became a member of the
pilot staff in Copenhagen, and at the same time he began a
career as a marine artist, where the old square-rigged ships
were his preferred objects.
As an artist he consulted the most popular marine art-
ists of the time: VilhelmArnesen (1865-1948) and Christian
Mølsted (1862-1930), and received good advice from them.
Later on there was a parting of the ways between Landt and
Arnesen. The latter found himself imitated by Landt, who
did not need to make a living out of his paintings.
Through the magazine
Vikingen,
Fr. Landt became a
well-known and popular marine artist. In 1936 he dared to
suggest himself for inclusion as an artist on a royal cruise
to the Faroe Islands and Iceland. He was chosen, and there
was some dissatisfaction among the more academic artists.
On the cruise, the artist developed close relationships
with several members of the royal family – especially with
Prince Knud, who from 1947 to 1953 was heir to the Danish
throne. The highlight of Fr. Landt’s career as a marine artist
was in the late 1930s, after several successful exhibitions in
the biggest Danish cities.
As Landt did not find himself appreciated in circles of
academic artists, he later refused an invitation to become a
member of the circle of artists exhibiting at the art centre
Charlottenborg.
In 1941, while working as a pilot, he suffered a serious
injury to his right hand when entering a ship on a wooden
pilot ladder, and he had to retire after 30 years of service as
pilot, but he continued his work as an artist. However, his
work built more and more on tradition without any innova-
tion and progress.
According to the wish of King Frederik IX, Landt was
invited to participate in a new royal expedition to Greenland
1952. The subsequent exhibition of works from the trip was
not a success. The injured hand and a progressing eye dis-
ease had started to influence the artist’s production, but he
was able to complete ship portraits for some Danish ship-
ping companies.
From the early 1960s, Landt had to give up painting
completely, and lived alone most of the time until he died
at a grandchild’s home in 1975. Fr. Landt surely enjoyed his
fame as a well-known marine artist, but he always preferred
to be mentioned by his profession as a pilot. His works have
previously reached high prices at Danish and international
auctions, but the declining interest in marine painting has
also affected the price of Landt’s works.
Benny Boysen (f. 1944)
Tidligere museumsinspektør. Efter uddannelse på Statens
Sømandsskole i Frederikshavn og nogle år til søs uddan-
net som lærer med historie som linjefag. 1976-1987 leder af
Struer Museum. Derefter redaktør og forfatter med eget lo-
kal- og kulturhistorisk forlag. Har publiceret en række artik-
ler med maritime emner – væsentligst fra Limfjordsområdet.
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