Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (Danish painter) 1783 - 1853
View of the Via Sacra, Rome, 1814
oil on canvas
28 x 33 cm. (11 x 13 in.)
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark
Eckersberg’s modest prospects from Rome were often painted with the motif directly before him. At the time this was still a relatively new practice and the Danish artist became a pioneer of plein air painting as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1818 onwards. With the aid of a mathematically meticulous perspective he sought to impose order on the world’s phenomena. This results successfully in a crystal-clear vision of ancient ruins, temples and churches of Rome: they all come forth in the painting, rendering the mood of the South concrete, palpable.
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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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