History of Schleswig-Holstein extremely harsh. King Christopher was only left in effective control of the small island of Langeland and faced the impossible task of raising 100,000 silver marks to redeem his country. Denmark had effectively been dissolved and was left without a king between 1332 and 1340. Gerhard, however, was assassinated in 1340 by a Dane. In 1340, King Valdemar IV of Denmark began his more than twenty-year-long quest to reclaim his kingdom. While succeeding in regaining control of Zealand, Funen, Jutland, and Scania he, however, failed to obtain control of Schleswig, and its ducal line managed to continue its virtual independence.
Funen Painters artists including Olaf Rude, Harald Leth and Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen who came to Møllebakken for inspiration. Another artist associated with the group was Poul S. Christiansen who came from the north of Funen and became a close friend of Zahrtmann after he joined his school in 1885. It was there that he met Johannes Larsen. As a result of their paintings of everyday country life, the Funen Painters were sometimes disparagingly called "bondemalerne" or the peasant painters. In 1907, there was a heated debate in the Danish press between Gudmund Hentze and Harald Slott-Møller and his wife, who stood up for