Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (Danish painter) 1783 - 1853
The Church Saints Cosmus and Damianus, Forum Romanum, Rome, 1815
wash drawing on paper
25 x 35 cm.
signed with or bears the monogram and dated 1815
also inscribed "Paa Campo Vaccino 1814"
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
Catalogue Note
Eckersberg writes in his diary on the 5th of January 1853 (in Danish): "Visited judge Collin this morning and brought him two drawings of the paintings that "Kunstforeningen" bought representing Saints Cosmo e Damiano and the interior of Colosseo".
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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.
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