P. C. Skovgaard

Peter Christian Skovgaard Thamsen ( in literature: PC Skovgaard [ pe ː ː ʦe sk ʰ ɒʊ̯ɡ̊ɒ ː ]; born April 4, 1817 in Ringsted, † April 13, 1875 in Copenhagen) was a Danish landscape painter and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Due to the quality and the number of his works - often large and always very lifelike and detailed representations of Danish landscapes in oil painting - he is counted among the artists of the Golden Age Denmark ( the danske guldalder ).

  • 3.1 Art Exhibitions
  • 3.2 Fellowships, Awards and Honors
  • 3.3 Skovgaard Research

Life

Youth and talent

Skovgaard was the son of the farmer Tham Masmann Skovgaard (1794-1835) and his wife Cathrine Elisabeth ( born Aggersborg; 1795-1854 ) born near Ringsted on the tenant farm Hammerhus. The father was on the court, as Peter Christian was six years old. The family moved to Vejby, north of the island of Zealand, where the father earned his living as a grocer with a small shop.

Early on the boy impressed the parents with his artistic skills. In his youth painted watercolor illustrations for Hans Christian Andersen's stories are now in the Kongelige Kobberstiksamling (Royal Collection engraving ), as the collection is a department in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen today. Skovsgaards mother, who had studied art under Claudius Ditlev Fritsch (1765-1841) known as " flower painter ", gave him drawing lessons until Peter Christian was confirmed.

Studies and art education

As a 14 -year-old (1831 ) was sent to Copenhagen Skovgaard for training at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts det ). In retrospect, he did not think much of this training course or private lessons, he from 1836 by the romantic history painter JL Lund received. He says that he learned more by the artisanal aspects of painting and through his visits to the Danish Kongelige Malerisamling (Royal collection of paintings; later Statens Museum for Kunst ) with the study of present there classic painting Dutch landscapes.

The former director and Academy Professor Christoffer Wilhelm Eckerberg, a longtime rival of JL Lund played - even though he was not a direct teacher of Skovgaard - an important role for this by advocating field studies for students of the Academy and mediated, including visits to the Jægersborg Dyrehave, a park, the Skovgaard multiple abbildete in his later work. During this time Skovgaard undertook with his friends Johan Thomas Lundbye, Lorenz Frølich, Christian Gotfred Rump, Thorald Læssøe and Dankvart Christian Magnus Dreyer studied painting in nature and many evenings spent he and other young artists in the elegant home of the sculptor and Academy Professor Hermann Ernst Freund and his wife Amelie Elisabeth.

1836 moved to the Skovgaard Akademiets Modelskole ( model school of the Academy ) and had his first exhibition at the same time at Castle Charlotte Borg. His work Måneskinsstykke med motif fra Langebro ( moonlight ( piece ) with motif from Langebro ) was acquired by the then crown prince Christian Frederick.

Artistic career

Notables such as the art critic, historian and Academy Professor Niels Lauritz Hoyen and the archaeologist and museum management Christian Jurgensen Thomsen became aware of Skovgaard and his work. Through their nationalist perspective they encouraged him not to travel, as usual, early in the career abroad, but his painting technique, mostly oil paintings, still there with the typical landscapes to develop in Denmark as an artistic subject. With the special support of Hoyen Skovgaard be focused on this kind of painting.

In the years 1837 and 1838 acquired Høyens Kunstforeningen ( Art Association ) several paintings Skovsgaards and 1839 bought the Danish Royal collection of paintings, the large area -scale work Udsigt mod Frederiksværk fra Tisvilde Skov ( look at Frederiksværk from Tisvilde Forest ), which in its dark humor and harsh to wildness - very unusual for Skovsgaards later style - very different from the landscape paintings of his contemporaries.

During the 1840s traveled Skovgaard, often together with his friend, the contemporary artist Johan Thomas Lundbye by Denmark and painted motifs on the land. One of the images from 1843, I udkanten af landsbyen Vejby, Lundbye sidder ved vejkanten above Tegner ( On the edge of Vejby, Lundbye sits at the side of the road and records ), shows the undersigned Lundbye at work near Vejby, where Skovgaard spent his youth. Another well-known work from this period is Havremark ved Vejby (oat field at Vejby ).

In the same year Skovgaard traveled to Møn and painted several pictures that show the monumental white chalk cliffs of the island, including Parti fra fra Mons Klint ( view of the Cliffs of Møn ), which is in the collection of the local Storstrøms art museum.

Also in 1843 presented Skovgaard from Charlotte Castle and won for the painting Det Gamle egetræ med Storkereden i Nordskoven ved Jaegerspris ( The old oak with a stork's nest in the north woods near Jægerspris ) the Neuhausenske Præmier (Neuhaus Award ). This painting shows a strong development in the abilities of his landscape painting. In 1844 he presented Parti af Sealand Kyst ved Dronningemøllen, Foraarsdag med uroligt Vejr (View Zealand coast Droningemøllen from stormy spring ) from, also known as AENS Udløb ( The outflow of the current). Both paintings were included in the Danish Royal collection of paintings.

In the following years, he traveled every summer to the north of Zealand and drew studies there, which he then used in his studio for big paintings in the winter. From this time as Sommermiddag i Dyrehavenâ ( summer day in Deer Park ) comes paintings from 1848 and Landevej ved Herregaarden Vognserup (country road near the Vognserup - ownership ) in the year 1849. This latter work was a reminder of his friend Lundbye, which in April 1848 after an accident died of a gunshot wound at the age of 29 years.

After 1850 Skovgaard developed a monumental form of expression that was very important for the next generation of artists. He was recognized as Denmark's most important representative of landscape painting and received many orders. He painted more frequently in Jægersborg Dyrehave, but often also to the north of Zealand, for example in the area of Hellebæk where he Aften ved Bonde dams created ( evening on Gutsteich ).

With a grant from the Academy Skovgaard traveled in 1854 to Italy, where he spent the winter with his wife Georgia, Vilhelm Marstrand, Niels Laurits Hoyen and his wife Birgitte Edele. On this trip Skovgaard created several paintings, including two views of Venice, a Roman landscape and genre scenes of Hoyen how it relates to an audience with Pope Pius IX. prepared. None of these images is one of his more important works.

In 1860 he was appointed titular professor, appointed in 1864 as a full member of the Academy of Fine Arts. After London and Paris, he traveled again in 1866.

With the financial support of the applied for artistic promotion Det anckerske legate he traveled again in 1869, a year after the death of his wife, along with Vilhelm Marstrand to Italy and painted several Italian landscapes. In the same year he painted "En Skovsø, Sommeraften " ( A Waldsee, summer evening ) and 1874 "En Sommerdag i Dyrehavenâ, et Tordenvejr he trukket Forbi above sols blades come Frem " ( A summer day in Deer Park, after a storm the sun comes out again ), two paintings, which are among his most important late works. "En Sommerdag i Dyrehavenâ " was his last major work and provided for his students an important study his technique dar.

Private and family life

On September 3, 1851 married PC Skovgaard and Marie Louise Schouw Georgia ( 1828-1868 ), the daughter of Professor Joakim Frederik Schouw, a botanist and politician. Georgia was himself also an artist and especially for their embroidery known which are based on drawings and paintings of the then leading artists such as Lundbye, Constantin Hansen, and to those of her husband.

The marriage produced three children, the Skovgaard portrayed 1871-1874 and later also taken the artistic professions: Joakim Frederik ( 1856-1933 ) was a painter and sculptor, Niels Kristian ( 1858-1938 ) was a painter, sculptor and graphic artist and Susette Cathrine (1863-1937) was a painter and ceramist.

On July 15, 1868 Georgia Skovgaard died at the age of 39, and shortly thereafter Skovgaard suffered a stroke from which he recovered quickly and was able to turn back without affecting the painting.

Skovgaard died on April 13, 1875 in Copenhagen at the age of 58 years from the consequences of a further stroke. His grave is in the cemetery Assistance ( Assisting Kirkegård ) in Copenhagen.

Work

PC Skovgaard is one of the leading landscape painters of the Golden Age (about 1800-1850 ). The extent - at the exhibition for its 100th birthday were shown more than 800 paintings - and had the quality of his work and for his role as a teacher at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts major influence on the subsequent development of landscape painting in the country.

It is mentioned again and again that Skovgaard a deep affection for his country and its unique landscapes, especially for its forests distinguished. To this end, he studied nature very closely and tried faithfully, but also idealized to represent. After his return from Italy, and at the peak of his artistic career he painted in 1857 might be known work, Bøgeskov i maj ( Buchenwald in May), the epitome of a Danish beech forest. Biographies and posthumous publications mention that there was no Danish painter succeeded trees in nature so lifelike to capture with every branch and every leaf as it did Skovgaard in this painting.

His mastery in the interpretation of the domestic nature included not only the pure craftsmanship and an eye for the composition. Especially in his later works he developed an increasing interest in the representation of atmosphere and light: The rich interplay of light and shade, representation of wind and clouds that lend a special atmosphere in the lines of the Danish nature in your pictures.

Occasionally, but rarely, Skovgaard also painted portraits, still rare genre pictures. These works, which are less important in contract work, are representations of his wife and children, from artists such as Lundbye (1841 ), of friends like Amelie Elisabeth friend, wife of the sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund (1860 ), and socially important people such as the writers, poets, philosophers, historians, pastors, educators and politicians Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig ( 1847), the revered Skovgaard personally.

Reception

Art Exhibitions

Skovsgaards paintings were shown both nationally and internationally in many exhibitions, as they are seen as the most outstanding examples of the Danish landscape painting of the Golden Age.

1862 Skovgaard traveled with Hoyen to London, where his work has been shown at the former World's Fair.

Posthumously his works at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878 and 1889 and at the First International Art Exhibition in Vienna were seen (1882). Other exhibitions were in London (1907, 1948), Paris (1928, 1984-1985), New York ( 1960-1961, 1964) and Rome ( 1974).

The largest exhibition of more than 800 works by Skovgaard found in 1917 on the occasion of his 100th birthday in Charlotte Borg castle where Skovgaard had frequent exhibitions during his lifetime.

In Denmark, his works can be found today in the following museums: Statens Museum for Kunst, Den Hirschsprungske Samling ( Heinrich Hirschsprung Collection ), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen Museum ( Copenhagen City Museum ), Thorvaldsen Museum, Ordrupgaard Museum, Fuglsang Art Museum and local museums in Aarhus, Horsens and Ribe.

Also dedicated to the artistic work of the whole Skovgaard family Skovgaard Museet ( The Skovgaard Museum) in Viborg contains several paintings by PC Skovgaard.

Scholarships, awards and honors

Skovgaard Research

In February 2009, decided Gertrud Oelsner, curator of the Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, and Karina Lykke Grand, curator of the Skovgaard Museum, a joint research project to record the complete works Skovsgaards and explain his pioneering work in the Danish landscape painting and its significance in the Golden Age and interpret.

628876
de