Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (Danish painter) 1783 - 1853
View of the Forum in Rome, 1814
oil on canvas
32 x 41 cm. (12.6 x 16.14 in.)
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
© photo National Gallery
Catalogue Note National Gallery
This is one of the most famous views in Rome, looking along the Forum towards the Palazzo dei Senatorio on the Capitol. The three surviving columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux frame the composition on the left; in the middle distance are the remains of the Temples of Saturn and Vespasian. In 1814 the Forum was still used as a field for grazing cattle and many prominent monuments (such as the Arch of Septimius Severus on the right) had yet to be fully excavated.
A detailed drawing by Eckersberg dated 8 June 1814 (Copenhagen, Hirschsprung Collection) corresponds to the view in this painting.
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Eckersberg was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig (now the southern part of Jutland in Denmark), to Henrik Vilhelm Eckersberg, painter and carpenter, and Ingeborg Nielsdatter.
After being trained in Copenhagen and studying in Paris (1810-13) under Jacques-Louis David, he continued his studies in Rome (1814), where he executed a masterly portrait of his friend Thorvaldsen (Royal Academy, Copenhagen, 1815). Returning to Copenhagen in 1816, he occupied himself mainly with portraits, minutely rendering the features of his models with a Neoclassic feeling for c1arity and purity of line. He also painted many landscapes, however (as he had done in Rome), and as an influential teacher at the Copenhagen Academy (from 1818) he introduced painting from nature into the curriculum. He also executed some religious themes and subjects from Danish history in Christiansborg Palace.
His pupils included Johan Christian Dahl and Christen Købke. He has been called 'the father of Danish painting' because of the influence he exerted on Danish painters in the second quarter of the 19th century. With Christen Købke he was the leading painter of the Danish 'Golden Age' (c. 1800-1850).
He is referred to as the Father of Danish painting.
Source: Wikipedia
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