C.W. Eckersberg (Blåkrog v. Aabenraa 1783-1853)

Christoffer Wilhelm Egersberg was born on January 2, 1783 in Blåkro. His father was a carpenter, but in time he was also involved in painting and often decorated furniture with flower decorations and ranks. He has so far had an open eye for his son's skills in drawing, and after his confirmation, Egersberg was sent to teach at the painter J.S. Jessel here in Åbnerup. After three years at Jessel's workshop, Egersberg looked for another Jessel, namely the painter Johan Jacob Jessel in Flensburg, and finally in April 1803 he could call himself Swedish. After that, he went to Copenhagen and the art academy, where the 20-year-old Egersberg advanced quickly through the different classes to the so-called model school, where they drew according to living models, His professor was the painter Nikolaj Abelgaard, who did not have much to offer to the young student. In fact, he encouraged him to become a porcelain painter, and only after Abelgaard's support in 1809, Egersberg finally achieved the coveted gold medal. With the gold medal, he pursued a travel scholarship, and Egersberg chose to set sail for Rome. But first he settled in Paris in 1810, where he enrolled with the painter Jacques-Louis David, who had given the new classicism a more strict and more consistent form than Danes like Abelgaard and Thorvaldsen. David insisted that the students do thorough studies of nature, and trained themselves to see the beautiful and the true, as he expressed it. A doctrine that would later shape Egersberg's own teaching when he became a professor himself. Paris was also the place where Egersberg for the first time got the opportunity to paint models of both genders, a practice he himself later, as a professor, was introduced to the academy in Copenhagen. Here there is hardly any talk of a single model studio, as a finished painting intended for a master's life. In 1813 Egersberg arrived in Rome, where he, in May 1814, made a purchase that would prove to revolutionize Danish painting. He purchased a painting shed and a painting box, which made him able to complete his paintings on the spot. Before, the artists always completed their paintings in the dark atelier. Egersberg made about 40 small paintings of Roman localities, and when he returned to Copenhagen in 1816, he exhibited them to the public. The so-called Roman prospects appeared with a clarity and curiosity that had not been seen before. The light of the day was bright, and the shadows appeared, compared to the paintings that one was used to seeing, as here in the painting of a Maltese girl from 1809, the year before Egersberg left. The Roman paintings Egersberg kept in his living room, where many students copied them before they went to Rome and visited the same places. After Egersberg's return to Copenhagen, he moved in 1817 with his family to Charlottenburg, where he was appointed professor. The same position, which had been out of the question since Egersberg's death. Egersberg immediately took over a commission for the embellishment of the cathedral in the newly built Christiansborg Castle. Abelgaard managed to carry out a few exhumations before his death in 1809, and in the absence of candidates, he chose to postpone the task to Egersberg, whom he had high expectations of, waiting at home. Throughout his education, Egersberg had struggled to become a historian. The history paintings, i.e. depictions of mythological and biblical scenes, as here Perseus and Andromeda, were arranged much more finely than, for example, portraits and landscapes, and it was expected by the professors at the academy that they were delivery-skilled historical paintings that could heroize the king's power. The four paintings that were to be embellished in the throne room had all specific motifs that Egersberg was to relate to in collaboration with a historian, who was to ensure that all historical details were correct. Here is the oil sketch for Christian I, which is dedicated to the king at Viborg Landsting. An official history painting that commemorated the universal power was an extremely difficult science discipline, and therefore Egersberg had to carry out various drawn sketches, which were basically limited by the so-called castle building commission, before he was at all so far that he could carry out an oil sketch in color. In an early drawing for this painting, it was criticized, for example, that the artist had placed women too far forward in the foreground. There was still not much room for artistic freedom, and with all the ongoing biocratic work, the task ended with the four paintings, which also took 11 years. Here is the final picture, which is not surprisingly somewhat stiff and dry compared to the much more charming sketch. However, the orderer was satisfied, and five years later Egersberg received another order for four pictures for the castle's knight's room. Although the history painting was Egersberg's unique genre, it is today best known for paintings he carried out in other areas, such as landscapes or scenes of everyday life. Portraits of the 1800s bourgeoisie were a good source of income, and in all he carried out about 160 portraits throughout his career. After all, the order was rejected. The series became more sought after, and Egersberg's students became a second part of the customers. However, this meant that he now had more time to paint for his satisfaction. Already when he was a boy, Egersberg had a ship, and through his production he filled the marine paintings almost as much as the portraits, and there was both basic work. He studied the ships in nature, he borrowed construction drawings, and he took himself on board when there was an opportunity for it. However, it was not only the ships that were exposed to basic studies. On June 30, 1826, Egersberg began, in addition to his diary recordings, to run a meteorological diary, and he continued to do so until March 6, 1851, two years before his death. His daughter, Julie Egersberg, could tell that the first thing her father did when he got up in the morning was to go out to the window to examine the skylight and the wind conditions. All these discoveries, which were often noted several times a day, were carried out in a separate diary. At the same time, he began to paint shadow formations in drawings and painted sketches. Often he sat and painted these on Charlottenborg's flat roof. It was fun to be with him up there, Julie wrote several years later. He often lay longer than usual on his back and stared up into the air and into the clouds. In most of his studies, however, Egersberg could not fully give up the earth connection and has adopted a horizontal line. This is today the only known where he has always concentrated on the sky. Egersberg died on July 22, 1853, during the great cholera epidemic in Copenhagen. But his sober and thorough studies of nature continued to his many students, and as a teacher he was so influenced by Danish painting that he was later given the nickname of the Father of Danish Painting.