Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
1783–1853 · Danish Neoclassical painter, the father of Danish painting
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter who is often called the father of Danish painting. Born in Blåkrog, in the Duchy of Schleswig in the south of Jutland, he laid the foundations for the period known as the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He is remembered as a portraitist, a landscape and marine painter, and above all as a teacher who changed the way art was taught in Denmark.
Childhood and first masters
He was the son of Henrik Vilhelm Eckersberg, a painter and carpenter, and Ingeborg Nielsdatter. In 1786 the family moved to Blans, a village near the Alssund, where the boy drew the surrounding countryside and went on sailing trips in his father's boat. After his confirmation he trained under the church and portrait painter Jes Jessen in Aabenraa, from 1797 to 1800, and then with Josiah Jacob Jessen in Flensburg, where he became an apprentice in May 1800. Even at that stage his drawings and paintings were proficient, but his aim was the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen.
The Academy and the journey abroad
In 1803 he reached Copenhagen with some savings, helped by local well-wishers. He was admitted to the Academy without fees and studied there with Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard, among others. He progressed in history painting, portraiture and landscape, but friction with Abildgaard slowed his advance, and he did not win the Academy's great gold medal until 1809, after his master's death. In the meantime he earned a living as a hand labourer and by drawing for copperplate engravings. The travel stipend linked to the medal was not actually paid until 1812.
In 1810 he married Christine Rebecca Hyssing, against his own wishes, in order to legitimise a son she had borne. The marriage was one reason he was keen to leave. In July 1810 he set out abroad with Tønnes Christian Bruun de Neergaard, a writer and financial backer, travelling through Germany to Paris. There he studied from 1811 to 1812 under the neoclassicist Jacques-Louis David, who urged him to paint from nature and from antiquity in pursuit of truth. In Paris he formed a lasting friendship with Jens Peter Møller and with the engraver Johan Frederik Clemens.
Rome and the friendship with Thorvaldsen
After two years he went on to Florence and then Rome, where he worked between 1813 and 1816. He sharpened his skills as a history painter and enjoyed making smaller studies of local life and the surrounding area. He spent three years among a large circle of artists, with Bertel Thorvaldsen as its cultural centre. Between the two men grew a close and enduring relationship, and the sculptor served Eckersberg as a loyal friend and adviser. In Rome in 1814 he painted one of his finest portraits, of Thorvaldsen, which was later given to the Academy.
The southern light made a deep impression on him, and he produced a large body of work there, including many excellent landscape studies. His divorce from Hyssing was completed while he was abroad, and by 2 August 1816 he was back in Denmark.
Professor at the Academy
Shortly after his return he was admitted to the Academy with a painting on a Norse subject, the Death of Balder, submitted as his admission piece. In February 1817 he married Elisabeth Cathrine Julie Juel, daughter of the portrait painter Jens Juel, who was also a professor at the Academy. They had two sons and four daughters before her death in 1827. In 1818 he was appointed professor, filling the chair left vacant by Abildgaard's death in 1809. The post had been held open until his return, and it was ultimately awarded to him alongside J. L. Lund. From 1827 to 1829 he served as director of the Academy.
His most lasting contribution was as a teacher. He took students out into the open air to work directly from nature, which introduced direct study from the landscape into Danish art. He also encouraged each pupil to develop personal strengths, so that a range of individual styles emerged. His interest in perspective, prompted by his marine paintings, led him to write a dissertation on the subject, Linear perspective used in the art of painting, in 1841, and to teach it.
Portraits, marine paintings and genre scenes
As a portraitist he was admired for clean lines and precise drawing of form. His commissions included portraits of the Copenhagen middle class, such as the Nathanson family picture of 1818 and the official portrait of Frederick VI. His career in portraiture was short-lived, however, because of competition from the very popular Christian Albrecht Jensen. He also painted historical works and altarpieces, including commissions for Christiansborg Palace.
Marine painting became another great interest. He loved ships and sailed through the Skagerrak, the Kattegat, the North Sea and as far as the English Channel at the age of 56. That experience gave his seascapes a new dimension: earlier ones tended to show calm waters, while later ones paid more attention to movement and waves. In 1819 the Admiralty granted him free access to the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen, where he could study the ships that were a favourite subject. Views such as A View towards the Swedish Coast from the Ramparts of Kronborg Castle and the Russian ship of the line Asow at anchor off Elsinore belong to this period. His nudes, such as the woman arranging her hair before a mirror, show his command of chiaroscuro in the flesh tones, and have led some to see him as a precursor of the Golden Age.
Legacy
He taught a whole generation, and his influence passed largely through his pupils. They included Wilhelm Bendz, Christen Købke, Jørgen Roed, Martinus Rørbye, Constantin Hansen, Wilhelm Marstrand, Julius Exner, Albert Küchler and Carl Frederik Sørensen, among many others. They brought to Danish painting the attention to everyday life and real landscape that defines the Golden Age. His reputation endured, and the Danish state awards the Eckersberg Medal in his honour.
In his later years his eyesight failed and he had to give up painting. He died of cholera in Copenhagen on 22 July 1853, during the great epidemic, and is buried in the city's Assistens Cemetery.
Works (23)
A small 1812 oil on canvas by Eckersberg, set beneath the aqueducts of Arcueil and Cachan near Paris. The urban landscape includes a tree, a chair and several figures: a woman, a man and a child. It belongs to the Danish Golden Age, though little is recorded about how or for whom it was painted.
This large marine by Danish painter Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg shows a corvette under construction, its hull resting on the slipway of a shipyard. Given its generous scale, the canvas places the viewer amid the yard's activity and the unfinished framework of the ship. It is held by the National Gallery of Denmark.
Seated nude by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, a painter of the Danish Golden Age. The female figure sits with her hair pinned up, in a simple composition that keeps attention on the body and the light falling across the skin. It reflects the artist's interest in studying the living model and the human figure.
Painted by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg in 1831, this seascape belongs to the Danish Golden Age, a period in which the sea and its vessels held a prominent place in painting. It shows a sloop under sail carrying passengers across the water, with the sea and the rigging as the main subjects.
An architectural painting from 1824 showing a cloister, a subject the title links to the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le mura in Rome. Eckersberg worked in oil on canvas, and the genre points to his interest in architecture and the ordering of space. Nothing is recorded here about who commissioned the work or how it was received.
Painted in 1836 by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, this seascape shows a corvette taking in sail as the wind freshens, alongside several other ships. Sky and sea fill much of the canvas, and the artist directs attention to the vessel's movement and the play of light over the water. The painting is held by the National Gallery of Denmark.
A young woman in ciociaro costume dances to the beat of a tambourine. The painting combines features of a genre scene with those of a portrait, and its lively figure occupies the center of the composition. Painted in 1816 by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, the work offers a vivid image of Italian folk dress and music.
The painting shows Loki and Sigyn, figures from Norse mythology. A bowl and a serpent appear, elements that in this tradition are usually linked to Loki's punishment, although the record does not describe the scene in detail. Eckersberg painted it in 1810, as part of his mythological work.
Seascape by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, dated 1845, showing a frigate and several other vessels under sail. The available information offers no further details about its commission or context, so the reading is limited to what is visible: an arrangement of ships at sea, painted in oil on canvas and held by the National Gallery of Denmark.
Portrait of the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, painted in 1814 by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. Executed in oil on canvas, the work presents the sitter with a calm expression and a restrained bearing, using light and tonal contrasts that draw attention to the face. Beyond the basic facts of its date and medium, little more is recorded, so any reading should stay close to what the painting itself shows.
A small 1815 oil on canvas by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg showing a woman wearing a hat. The sitter is identified as the model Maddalena or Anna Maria Uhden, a name that remains uncertain, since two possible forms are recorded. Its modest scale suggests a quiet, intimate study rather than a formal commission, though this reading is probable rather than documented.
Small genre scene showing a sailor saying goodbye to his sweetheart on a brick-paved street lit by a street lamp. A tree, a basket and a hat sit nearby, while shadows stretch across the wall and ground. The intimate, everyday tone turns a brief parting into a quiet domestic moment.
Where to see the work
- Statens Museum for Kunst Copenhagen Municipality · 13
- Hirschsprung Collection Copenhagen Municipality · 2
- Louvre Museum Paris · 2
- National Gallery London · 1
- Art Institute of Chicago Chicago · 1
- Ribe Kunstmuseum Esbjerg Municipality · 1
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Jacques-Louis David 1748–1825
- Nicolai Abildgaard 1743–1809
Pupils
- Wilhelm Marstrand 1810–1873
- Constantin Hansen 1804–1880
- Martinus Rørbye 1803–1848
- Christen Købke 1810–1848
- Wilhelm Bendz 1804–1832
- Lorenz Frølich 1820–1908
- Julius Exner 1825–1910
- Louis Gurlitt 1812–1897
- Christine Løvmand 1803–1872
- Dankvart Dreyer 1816–1852
- Emil Bærentzen 1799–1868
- Niels Simonsen 1807–1885
- Albert Küchler 1803–1886
- Jørgen Roed 1808–1888
- Anton Melbye 1818–1875
- Harro Harring 1798–1870
- Carl Dahl 1812–1865
- Carl Frederik Sørensen 1818–1879
- Emanuel Larsen 1823–1859
- Hans Jørgen Hammer 1815–1882
- F.C. Kiærskou 1805–1891
- Fritz Petzholdt 1805–1838
- Frederik Theodor Kloss 1802–1876
- Anton Dorph 1831–1914
- Johann Hermann Carmiencke 1810–1867
- Hans Matthison-Hansen 1807–1890
- Frederik Ferdinand Helsted 1809–1875
- Johan Laurentz Jensen 1800–1856
Curiosities
Swimmers at Holmen
According to the sources, the access granted to the Copenhagen Naval Station gave him an unusual opportunity. In summer the sailors practised swimming there, and they swam naked. Eckersberg could watch men in complete undress and judge their physical build. He chose models from among them for paintings with subjects from Greek and Roman antiquity, since the harbour offered him a steady supply of male figures.
A marriage for the sake of a son
His first marriage, in July 1810, was not a matter of personal choice. He married Christine Rebecca Hyssing against his wishes in order to legitimise a son she had borne. Shortly afterwards he set out abroad to study, partly to escape that situation, and the divorce was completed while he was away from Denmark.
Two sisters, two marriages
After the death of his second wife, Elisabeth Juel, in 1827, Eckersberg married her sister Susanne Henriette Emilie Juel, also a daughter of Jens Juel. He had several more children with her. Both women were daughters of the portrait painter who had been a professor at the Academy, which reflects how closely the family was bound up with Copenhagen's artistic world.