Mad for Hatters

We start with a painting, a painting of a group of hatters. Italian Village Hatters it is called, and it was created in 1880 by Danish painter Peter Severin Krøyer while traveling on a grant from the Royal Academy of Arts. No, I am not mad, and I assume the hatters weren’t either.

The painting features a skinny, sweaty, Italian man working in a dusty, hot room, his two equally skinny sons assisting him. A masterpiece for sure, recognized as such by the Société de Artistes Francais in Paris, who awarded him their third prize and gold medal in their inaugural year of 1881. With such an accolade from the artistic center of world, Krøyer was elevated to the top of the Danish artists’ league and became the front figure of the so-called ‘modern break-through,’ an important new direction of art. Krøyer is today best known for his paintings from the village of Skagen on the north tip of Jutland, often tranquil scenes on the beach.

L. E. Bruun purchased the medal Krøyer was awarded in 1881 at some point and kept it as part of his collection, stored for 100 years, bound by his will. On March 24-25, 2026 Stack’s Bowers Galleries will sell Part IV of the L. E. Bruun Collection in New York at the Kosciuszko Foundation. Featured in the auction is the very medal, Krøyer was awarded in 1881, a medal that changed Danish painting and made history.

The medal is made of gold and weighs 157 gms (more than 5.5 ounces) and is in beautiful condition with no real traces of handling. The Krøyer Medal is but one of hundreds of coins and medals in the sale, many of which are of the highest historical or numismatic importance.

The painting of the Italian Village Hatters is on permanent display here in Copenhagen, at the Hirschsprung Collection, only a few hundred meters from this office.