Bodil Neergaard

She is remembered for her many charitable activities as well as for her life in Fuglsang Manor on the island of Lolland where, together with her husband Rolf Viggo de Neergaard, she hosted every summer prominent artists and musicians.

Hartmann, was also a renowned composer while her maternal grandfather, Rudolph Puggaard was a prosperous merchant, patron of the arts and philanthropist.

[1][4] On 2 May 1885, she married Rolf Viggo Neergaard (1837–1915), a cousin, and himself a philanthropist and amateur cellist, who owned the Fuglsang and Priorskov estates, one of the most extensive properties in the Eastern provinces.

The couple moved into Fuglsang Manor, to which Bodil Neergaard brought the paintings inherited from her family [3], mostly by masters of the Danish Golden age such as Wilhelm Marstrand, Constantin Hansen, Jørgen Sonne, Peter Christian Skovgaard, Jørgen Roed, Christen Købke, Ditlev Blunck, Christian Albrecht Jensen, Vilhelm Kyhn, but also later painters such as Kristian Zahrtmann and Otto Bache, as well as sculptures by Bertel Thorvaldsen, Herman Wilhelm Bissen, Carl Hartmann or Carl Frederik Holbech.

During the day, they would enjoy the free life in the beautiful surroundings, sail to the small islands in Guldborgsund, have tea there, or compose in their rooms, and in the evening, after a fine dinner, where the table was always decorated with varied artistic flower arrangements, daily concerts were played for mutual enjoyment by the guests in the large and beautiful music room.

Bodil Neergaard was herself a fine soprano, who had been educated in Paris as a professional singer by Désirée Artôt de Padilla and was a regular participant in the concerts held every evening in the summer months in the music room.

Her friend Mathilda Wrede gave her the idea to establish the Sønderskov Home (Sønderskovhjemmet) on her property to house up to 17 men suffering from lack of employment.

Her charitable interests extended to providing holiday camp lodgings for some 50 boys from the capital to spend their summers near the shores of Guldborgsund while she made another building available to the writer Aage Falk Hansen for housing those in need.

She adapted the main building on the Flintingegård estate for elderly women from Copenhagen to spend a few weeks in the country, inviting them in groups of 10 at a time.