Arild Rosenkrantz’s symbolistic paintings reinstalled in the Entrance Hall of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

From February 2007 a programme of paintings depicting musical moods will be rehung in the entrance of the Royal Academy of Music in Marylebone Road in London. They were originally ordered by the architects Sir Ernest George and Alfred Yeates and painted by Arild Rosenkrantz at his studio in London and installed in the building in 1911.

It was an old photo found among his belongings, that led to this. On the rear of this photograph, dated 1911, Arild Rosenkrantz had written: Royal Academy of Music. The picture showed the entrance of the Academy and some of his paintings hanging over the marble panelling. This of course stirred my curiosity, and on a visit to London in the 1990s my husband and I called at the Academy and asked to see the paintings. But there was nothing on the walls, and as I hadn’t brought the photo I couldn’t show what I was talking about and went away very puzzled.

Some years later, when I was visiting Rosenholm to arrange an exhibition of his paintings, I went up to a passage on the second floor where I had never been before. What did I see but the very same paintings shown on the old photo. I took some digital photos on the spot and sent to the Academy in London to prove I had not been phantasising. The paintings actually excisted!

To make a long story short: Some ten years later, after visits to Rosenholm Castle by staff members and restorers, negotiations were made to allow for a longterm loan of the paintings from the Rosenholm Foundation to the Royal Academy of Music.

Through a generous gift from ome of the Academy’s supporters it has been possible to pay for their conservation and restoration by the restorers Bush & Berry of Bristol. From the 30th January 2007 they will be hanging in their original home in London.

Bente Rosenkrantz Arendrup