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Denmark was a Norse (Viking) kingdom. There ws no tradition of painting. We do not note Danish artists until the 18th century. Presumably there were earlier artists, but we are not yet familiar with them. HBC has noted quite a number of important Danish arttists. Several of these artists have painted interesting works illustrating children and children's fashions. At this point, while we can not yet comment on Danish art, we can list Danish artists who come to our attention. Hopefully our Danish readers will provide more information on their country's art. For such a small country, they have certainly made a major contribution to Western art.
Anders Peter Christian Aigens was a listed Danish artist, well known for charming portraits of children. He lived for long period in both Switzerland and the Faroe Islands. He exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen during 1908-1940 and at several other Danish exhibitions. The painting here represents a charming portrait of a boy sitting at the window and reading in his book. I am not sure if the boy wears a collarless shirt or if it his underwear. He wears suspenders for his black shorts.
Carl Heinrich Bloch was born in Copenhagen (1834). He studied with Wilhelm Marstrand at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi). Bloch's parents wanted him to pursue a respectable middle-class profession, in particular to become an officer in the Danish Navy. Carl was, however, not interested in the military. His passion ws art and wanted to be an artist. He like many aspiring European artists went to Italy to study the great masters. He traveled through the Netherlands as was able to see many Rembrandts. This became a major influence on him. Once in Italy he met his wife, Alma Trepka. They married in Rome (1868). Bloch's earky works featured everyday life genre scenes, both Danish and Italian. Many had rural settings. Bloch lived in Italy (1859-66). Gradually his focus began to change. His first great success was the exhibition of his 'Prometheus Unbound' in Copenhagen (1865). This began a dramatic shift to religious themes. He did works decorating the ceremonial hall at the University of Copenhagen. He is perhaps best known for 23 paintings for the Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace (1867-79). It took some time to complete the commission. These were scenes from the life of Christ. They were a great success and widely used by Christian authors to illustrate books.
Another Danish artist appears to havev been active after World War I. We know nothing about him at this time. He signed his paintings Cd. We note a portrait of a boy in blue sailor suit. We do not who the boy is or when the portrait was painted, but would guess the 1930s before World War II. It is a competent, but not particularly exciting portrait of the boy.
We have no information about the artist at this time. We do have one signed portrait by Dalberg done in 1935. We believe the portrait is of a Danish boy. He wears a suit looking rather like an Eton suit with small jacket and a wide white collar.
C. Hansen was a Danish artist. We know nothing about him, but note a portrait of a boy with cropped hair in a kind of dress or tunic outfit. Hansen painted it in 1896.
Otto Haslund is a respected Danish artist. He won a varierty of medals for his work and vecame a professor in the Royal Danish academy of Art. We note a masterly executed 1904 portrait of presumably a Danish boy who looks to be wearing an Eron collar with a large white bow.
Here we have a captivating portrait of a little Danish boy by a Ludvig Jacobsen. Strong colors and excellent detail. Jacobsen is a listed artist. He attended the Technical School but as a painter he was self-taught. He attained a scholarship from the Academy in 1923. Jacobsen was a great colorist. He painted landscapes and portraits but his main fields were genre paintings and figure compositions. He often chose motifs from the classic literature (Moliere, Holberg and Bellmann) and here he had a special gift in expressing the comical and satirical in the scenes. He was a frequent exhibitor at Charlottenborg from 1919-57, but also exhibited at Kunstnernes Efteraarsudstilling (the Artists' Fall Exhibition) in 1919 and the Saloon in Paris 1928-29. His works are represented in museums in Bornholm, Storstroem and Aarhus.
Here is a delightful vintage portrait by Danish arrtist Hans Christian Jensen, depicting a thoughtful-looking boy, wearing a sailor suit and holding a small slate (blackboard) in his hands. Boys often wore sailor suits to school where slates like the boy is holding were commonly used. The boy is seen half length while sitting in an upholstered chair. He is looking directly towards the viewer. The portrait is signed and dated 1895. He was a pupil of Vilhelm Marstrand, along with Otto Bache and Vilhelm Rosenstand, and he repreatedly exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. Besides he exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878.
Jens Juel is mostly known for his numerous portraits, many of which can be seen in Frederiksborg Castle in Copenhagen. Juel was an illegitimate child who was brought up by a schoolmaster and lived in Gamborg. He was sent as a teenager to study with the painter Johann Michael Gehrman in Hamburg, where he very early (in his twenties) gained a reputation as a skilled crafstman of portraits and landscapes. He then returned to Copenhagen to attend the Royal Danish Academy of Art as a young man. He later moved to Rome and Paris and Geneva, gaining experience and mingling with well-known painters in these cities. Having established his reputation, he finally returned to establish himself professionally in Copenhagen and became well known for his portraits of Danish royalty, nobility, and other wealthy clients. In 1795 he became the director of The Royal Danish Academy of Art.
Heinrich Knudsen was a Danish artist who we know was active in the 1940s. We know nothing about him at this time. We do note a portrait he painted during the NAZI occupation of Denmark. It shows a young boy perhaps 3 or 4 years old. He is wearing a darl blue velvet suit with a Peter Pan blouse. The suit looks to be a romper suit. We do not know who the boy was, but we know the portrait was painted in 1942.
We have no information on this Danish artist other than he was active in the early 20th century. We notice a portrai he did of a boy in a white sailor suit with a blue collar during 1913. It is a pastel drawing. The boy looks to be around 11 years old.
Carl Vilhelm Meyer was educated at the Academy of Fine Art under F. Vermehren. He represented the group of artists who pictured the common peoples life, a realistic school which is paid more and more attention to. Carl V. Meyer was also called the poor people's painter. He himself was a was the son of a shoemaker but because of his talent he managed to get scholarships for his education as an artist. He exhibited at the main exhibitions in Copenhagen (among them at Charlottenborg) and in Munich (Germany). In 1909 he received the reward Serdin Hansens Pr. for a painting at Charlottenborg.
We have not yet been able to find any information about about Danish artist Harald Viggio Moltke, other than his birth and death dates. We have found one portrait that we believe he painted, probably in the early 20th century. It shows a boy, probably about 6 yers of age wearing a tunic suit.
We are not sure about this artist. The name is hard to makr out on the portrait. It looks something like A. Pitrueulli. That sounds vaguely Italian, but we know nothing about this artist. Could he be an Italian artist working in Denmark. We think that the boy may be Danish, but we can not be sure about this either. The boy looks to be wearing somre kind of folk or regional cloything. It looks to have been done in the early 20th century. Hoprefully our Euroopean readers will be able to provide us som insights. All we really know about this portrait is that it was being sold by a Copenhagen gallery.
I know nothing about this painter. Heis apparently Danish. One source gives his dates as 1885-1941. Ither than this I have been unable to find any information about him. HBC has found one painting he executed that does look rather like a Danish boy.
We note a painting signed "P. Schou" for Peter Schou (1863-1934). Schou is a listed Danish artist. Schou started as an apprentice with the painter E. Schmiegelow, then Technical School and finally the Royal Danish Academy of Art from 1879-86. He worked as a decoration painter for several years in theatres and museums in Copenhagen and Vienna. Apart from Austria Schou travelled in Rumania, Greece, Turkey and Italy. He also taught decorative painting and had a great influence in this field. In his artworks Schou painted in a naturalistic style, especially landscapes and figure paintings. He never exhibited and left about 200 watercolours and paintings. The portait here is a portrait of a 6-year-old boy. The light enters the room from the left, casting a beautiful light on his soft skin and hair.
I know nothing about this Danish painter other than heexecuted some wonderfully detailed portarits with fascinating depictions of late 19th and early 20th century clothing.
August Toersleff is a listed artist. He spent his childhood in Leipzig where his father worked as a voice coach. Over time Toersleff developed a beautiful tenor voice and he played the cello. However, it was his talent for painting that became his calling. He spent two winters with Holger Groenvold at Technical School and this time became of great influence to his painting. He went to the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, but the lessons bored him and as his drawings and paintings, on his first separate exhibition in 1902, caught the interest of the public he left the academy. Two years with Laurits Tuxen at the Artists' Study School and a few months as P. S. Kroeyer's private pupil completed his education. Toersleff mainly painted portraits in oil. But he also produced some etchings and painted landscapes and figure compositions with children and young people. He traveled to France, Germany and England. Toersleff exibited at Charlottenborg for several years. A good example of his work is "Boys on
Cliffs"(1931).
We note a portrait by Conrad Stonor Werner of a little boy. He is sitting cross legged facing the viewer and looking intently out of the picture. The colors are dark with a few bright red reflections. He is a listed Danish artist. Werner graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Art in 1918. He spent the years 1919-23 in Italy and Paris where he was influenced by contemporary art. In 1921-23 he exhibited at the Salon in Paris and he became a regular exhibitor at the exhibitions on Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. His subjects include both landscapes, still-lives and portraits often inspired by French portrait art. From the 1930s his works show much influence from Scandinavian modernism. Werner was a remarkably skilled colorist and the color surfaces of his paintings are always carefully composed. Erner painted from the 1920s to the 1960s and ammassed an extensive oprivate collection. Werner did not sell his paintings and the collection forms the major part of his work. I can't say I am very impressed with his work, but it is a psrt of art history.
We have noted several paintaings that appear to be Danish, but the artist is unidentified. One such paintaing is an image of a boy in a large white collar. Hopefully our Danish readers may be able to offer some insights here.
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