Udsigt mod syd fra Helsingørs Rhed, med en dansk Korvet til ankers samt nogle andre mindre skibe dels under sejl og dels til ankers (View to the South from the Road of Elsinore with a Danish Corvette at Anchor and Smaller Ships, Some Under Sail and Some at Anchor)

Christoffer Eckersberg's fascination with shipping and the sea – the primary subject of his paintings in the 1830s and the 1840s – traced its roots back to his childhood upbringing on the Jutland coast, and a brief but early apprenticeship with a local craftsman, Jes Jessen. Jessen had a sideline in the relatively new genre of ship portraiture, which demanded the accurate rendition of a ship's manifold individual characteristics. The present painting also bears witness to Eckersberg's rigorously classical training under Nicolai Abildgaard, under whom the artist developed a strong fascination with perspective. The spatial relationship of the ships to the waves, and to each other is particularly complex, with each ship not only of a different type, but also depicted at a completely different angle to the viewer. Despite its carefully constructed and almost geometric nature, Eckersberg has dissembled his artifice in an almost photographic snapshot, in which even the speed and direction of the wind can be clearly discerned.
The present work is noted in Eckersberg’s diary, 3rd September 1830 ('Started on a new painting, a seascape') and 27th September 1830 ('Finished a seascape today, which shows a view from the road of Elsinor, with a Danish corvette and some other ships sailing or at anchor'). Helsingør, better known as Elsinore in English because of its association with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is located at the narrowest point on the strategic Øre Sound between Denmark and Sweden. For many years ships passing through the sound had to stop in Helsingør to pay taxes to the Danish Crown, creating a bustling trade port in addition to its miliary importance.