PC Skovgaard
Peter Christian Thamsen Skovgaard (in literature: PC Skovgaard [ peː ʦeː skʰɒʊ̯ˈɡ̊ɒː ]; born April 4, 1817 in Ringsted , † April 13, 1875 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish landscape painter and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Art . Because of the quality and also the number of his works - often large-scale and always very lifelike and detailed depictions of Danish landscapes in oil painting - he is counted among the artists of the Danish Golden Age ( den danske guldalder ).
Life
Youth and talent
Skovgaard was born as the son of the farmer Tham Masmann Skovgaard (1794-1835) and his wife Cathrine Elisabeth (nee Aggersborg; 1795-1854) on the Hammerhus farm near Ringsted. The father gave up the farm when Peter Christian was six years old. The family moved to Vejby , in the north of the island of Zealand , where the father made his living as a grocer with a small shop.
The boy impressed his parents with his artistic skills at an early age. Watercolor illustrations of Hans Christian Andersen's stories painted in his youth are now in the Kongelige Kobberstiksamling ( Royal Engraving Collection ), which is now a collection in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. Skovgaard's mother, who had studied art under Claudius Ditlev Fritsch (1765–1841), known as the "flower painter", gave him drawing lessons until Peter Christian was confirmed .
Study and art education
At the age of 14 (1831) Skovgaard was sent to Copenhagen to study at the Royal Danish Academy of Art ( det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi ). In retrospect, he did not think much of this training or the private lessons he received from the romantic history painter J.L. Lund received. According to his own statements, he learned more through the technical 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 the classic paintings of Dutch landscapes available there.
Former director and academy professor Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg , a longtime rival of JL Lund, played an important role for JL Lund - although he was not a direct teacher of Skovgaard - by advocating and arranging field studies for students at the academy, including visits to the Jægersborg Dyrehave , a park that Skovgaard depicted several times in his later work. During this time Skovgaard undertook painting studies in nature with his friends Johan Thomas Lundbye , Lorenz Frølich , Christian Gotfred Rump , Thorald Læssøe and Dankvart Christian Magnus Dreyer and he and other young artists spent many evenings in the elegant house of the sculptor and academy professor Hermann Ernst Freund and his wife Amelie Elisabeth.
In 1836 Skovgaard moved to the Akademiets Modelskole ( model school of the academy ) and at the same time had his first exhibition at Charlottenborg Palace . His work Måneskinsstykke med Motif fra Langebro ( moonlight (piece) with motif from Langebro ) was acquired by the then Crown Prince Christian Friedrich .
Artistic career
Notable people like the art critic , historian and academy professor Niels Lauritz Høyen and the archaeologist and museum administrator Christian Jürgensen Thomsen became aware of Skovgaard and his work. With their nationalistic point of view, they encouraged him not to travel abroad early in his career as usual, but to continue developing his painting technique, mostly oil painting , in Denmark with the typical landscapes as an artistic theme. With special support from Høyen, Skovgaard focused on this type of painting.
In 1837 and 1838, Høyens Kunstforeningen ( Art Association ) acquired several paintings by Skovgaard and in 1839 the Danish Royal Painting Collection bought the large-scale work Udsigt mod Frederiksværk fra Tisvilde Skov ( View of Frederiksværk from Tisvilde Forest ), which is in its dark mood and rough Wildness - very atypical of Skovgaard's later style - clearly differs from the landscape depictions of his contemporaries.
During the 1840s, Skovgaard traveled through Denmark, often with his friend the contemporary artist Johan Thomas Lundbye, painting motifs in the countryside. One of the pictures from 1843, I udkanten af landsbyen Vejby, Lundbye sidder ved vejkanten og tegner ( On the edge of Vejby, Lundbye sits on the side of the road and draws ), shows Lundbye drawing at work near Vejby, where Skovgaard spent his youth. Another well-known work from this period is Havremark ved Vejby ( oat field near Vejby ).
In the same year, Skovgaard traveled to Møn and painted several pictures showing the island's monumental white chalk cliffs , including Parti fra Møns Klint ( View of Møns Klint ), which is in the collection of the local Storstrøms Art Museum .
Also in 1843 Skovgaard exhibited in Charlottenborg Palace and won the Neuhausenske Præmier ( Neuhaus Award ) for the painting Det Gamle egetræ med Storkereden i Nordskoven ved Jægerspris ( The old oak with stork's nest in the northern forest near Jægerspris ). This painting shows a strong development in his landscape painting skills. In 1844 he exhibited Parti af Sjællands Kyst ved Dronningemøllen, Foraarsdag med uroligt Vejr ( View of Zealand's coast from Droningemøllen, stormy spring ), also known as Åens Udløb ( The Outflow of the Stream ). Both paintings were included in the Danish Royal Collection of Paintings.
In the following years he traveled to the north of Zealand every summer and drew studies there, which he then used in his studio for large paintings in winter. Paintings such as Sommermiddag i Dyrehaven ( summer day in Dyrehaven ) from 1848 and Landevej ved Herregaarden Vognserup ( country road near the Vognserup estate ) in 1849 date from this period. This latter work was a memory of his friend Lundbye, who lived in Died April 1848 after an accident from a gunshot wound at the age of 29.
After 1850, Skovgaard developed a monumental form of expression that had great significance for the following generation of artists. He was recognized as Denmark's most important representative of landscape painting and received many commissions. He continued to paint frequently in Jægersborg Dyrehave, but also often further north on Zealand, for example in the area around Hellebæk , where he created Aften ved Bondedammen ( Evening at Gutsteich ).
With a scholarship from the academy, Skovgaard traveled to Italy in 1854 , where he spent the winter with his wife Georgia, Vilhelm Marstrand , Niels Laurits Høyen and his wife Edele Birgitte. On this trip Skovgaard created several paintings, including two views of Venice , a Roman landscape and a genre painting by Høyen, as he was going to an audience with Pope Pius IX. prepared. None of these pictures are among his more important works.
In 1860 he was appointed titular professor and in 1864 a full member of the Academy of Fine Arts. He traveled to London and Paris again in 1866.
With financial support from the Det anckerske Legat Foundation, which was set up for artistic sponsorship , he traveled again to Italy with Vilhelm Marstrand in 1869, a year after the death of his wife, and painted several Italian landscapes. In the same year he painted En Skovsø, Sommeraften ( A forest lake, summer evening ) and in 1874 En Sommerdag i Dyrehaven; et Tordenvejr er trukket forbi og Solen atter come strangers ( A summer's day in Dyrehaven; the sun comes out after a thunderstorm ), two paintings that are counted among his most important works of old. En Sommerdag i Dyrehaven was his last great work and represented an important study of his technique for his students.
Private life and family
On September 3, 1851, PC Skovgaard and Marie Louise married Georgia Schouw (1828–1868), the daughter of Professor Joakim Frederik Schouw , a botanist and politician . Georgia was also an artist herself and was best known for her embroidery , which was based on drawings and paintings by the then leading artists such as Lundbye, Constantin Hansen and those of her husband.
The marriage resulted in three children, whom Skovgaard portrayed between 1871 and 1874 and who later also took up artistic professions: Joakim Frederik (1856–1933) became a painter and sculptor, Niels Kristian (1858–1938) became a painter, sculptor and graphic artist and Susette Cathrine (1863–1937) became a painter and ceramicist.
Georgia Skovgaard died on July 15, 1868 at the age of 39 and shortly afterwards Skovgaard suffered a stroke , from which he recovered quickly and was able to return to painting without any effects.
Skovgaard died on April 13, 1875 in Copenhagen at the age of 58 from complications from another stroke. His grave is on the Assistant Cemetery ( Assis Kirkegård ) in Copenhagen.
plant
PC Skovgaard is considered one of the leading landscape painters of the Golden Age (around 1800–1850). The extent - more than 800 paintings were shown at the exhibition on his 100th birthday - and the quality of his work, as well as his role as a teacher at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, had a major influence on the subsequent development of landscape painting in the country.
It is mentioned again and again that Skovgaard had a deep affection for his country and its unique landscapes, especially its forests. To this end, he studied nature very intensively and tried to depict it faithfully, but also ideally. After his return from Italy and at the height of his artistic career, he painted his perhaps well-known work, Bøgeskov i maj ( Buchenwald in May ), the epitome of a Danish beech forest in 1857 . Biographies and posthumous publications mention that no Danish painter has succeeded in capturing trees in nature with every branch and leaf as lifelike as Skovgaard did in this painting.
His mastery in interpreting the local nature encompassed not only the purely technical skills but also an eye for the composition of the pictures. In his later works in particular, he developed an increasing interest in the depiction of atmosphere and light: the rich interplay of light and shadow, depiction of wind and clouds, which give the lines of the Danish landscape in his pictures a special mood.
Occasionally, but rarely, Skovgaard also painted portraits , even more rarely genre pictures . These works, which are less important in the overall work, are depictions of his wife and children, of artist colleagues such as Lundbye (1841), of friends such as Amelie Elisabeth Freund, the wife of the sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund (1860), and of socially important personalities such as the writer , poet , philosopher , historian , pastor , educator and politician Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1847), whom Skovgaard personally adored.
reception
Art exhibitions
Skovgaard's paintings have been shown in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally, as they are considered particularly outstanding examples of Danish landscape painting of the Golden Age.
In 1862 Skovgaard traveled with Høyen to London , where his work was shown at the then world exhibition.
His works were shown posthumously at the world exhibitions in Paris in 1878 and 1889 and at the First International Art Exhibition in Vienna (1882) . Further exhibitions were in London (1907, 1948), Paris (1928, 1984–1985), New York (1960–1961, 1964) and Rome (1974).
The largest exhibition with more than 800 works by Skovgaard took place in 1917 on the occasion of his 100th birthday in Charlottenborg Palace, where Skovgaard already had numerous exhibitions during his lifetime.
In Denmark his works can now be found in the following museums: Statens Museum for Kunst , Den Hirschsprungske Samling (Heinrich Hirschsprung Collection), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek , Københavns Museum (Copenhagen City Museum), Thorvaldsen Museum , Ordrupgaard Museum , Fuglsang Art Museum and in local Museums in Aarhus , Horsens and Ribe .
The Skovgaard Museet (The Skovgaard Museum) in Viborg also contains several paintings by PC Skovgaard, which is dedicated to the artistic work of the entire Skovgaard family .
Scholarships, Awards and Honors
- 1843 Neuhausenske Præmier (scholarship)
- 1845 Kunstneren udstillingsmedaljen ( artist exhibition medal ) for the large-scale picture Udsigt over Skarrit Sø ( view over Skarrit Lake ), which was included in the National Collection (as the Danish Royal Collection of Paintings was called at the time). (Scholarship)
- 1854 Akademie Pris (scholarship; used for a trip to Italy)
- 1869 Det anckerske Legat (scholarship from the Ancker Foundation; used for another trip to Italy)
- In 1874, a year before his death, Skovgaard was awarded the Dannebrogden .
- The Skovgaard Museum gives at irregular intervals, designed by Mogens Bøggild Skovgaard Medaljen ( Skovgaard Medal ), which was awarded from 1977 to 2012, respectively on April 4, the birthday of PC Skovgaard, Danish to date 13 artists, "in their artistic style are remarkable and unmistakable ”.
Skovgaard research
In February 2009, Gertrud Oelsner, curator of the Fuglsang Art Museum, and Karina Lykke Grand, curator of the Skovgaard Museum, decided to undertake a joint research project in order to record the complete works of Skovgaard and to present and interpret his pioneering work in Danish landscape painting and its importance in the Golden Age.
literature
- Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, Eds. CF Bricka, Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Søn), Græbes Bogtrykkeri, Kjøbenhavn (1902), XVI vol, pp 71-76
- Ingeborg Simesen: Breve fra Svend Grundtvig til P. Chr. Skovgaard 1848–1849 , Gads Danske Magasin, 1929, pp. 582–595
- Henrik Bramsen: painter af PC Skovgaard , Munksgaard (1938)
- PC Skovgaard: udstilling i 150 aret for kunsterens fodsel: April 4th-4th September , Skovgaard Museet , Viborg (1967)
- PC Skovgaard, J. Th. Lundbye, Lorenz Frølich, Statens Museum for Kunst på landsturné 1996–97 , Statens Museum for Kunst (1996), ISBN 978-87-7551-126-6
- Gertrud Oelsner and Karina Lykke Grand (red.): PC Skovgaard - Dansk guldalder revurderet , Aarhus Universitetsforlag (2010), ISBN 978-87-7934-556-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kunstindex Danmark: Brief family history of Skovgaard and his wife (Danish)
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o The Danish painting title is freely translated into German.
- ↑ Niels Laurits Andreas Høyen (1798–1870), who is considered the first Danish art historian and art critic, took a very nationalist position in the assessment of Danish art. His writings and lectures were very influential and he sponsored many young Danish artists in the Golden Age.
- ↑ The Neuhausenske Præmier, named after the founder Jens Neuhausen (1774–1816), a painter and former student of the Art Academy, is an award in the form of a scholarship, the first of which was awarded in 1838. In 1976 the award was merged with the Zacharias Jacobsen legacy (Zacharias Jacobsen grant).
- ↑ In this painting Skovgaard again took up the motif of Lundbye painting and surrounded by children, which was also used in I udkanten af landsbyen Vejby, Lundbye sidder ved vejkanten og tegner ( on the edge of Vejby, Lundbye sits on the side of the road and draws ) you can see.
- ↑ Title: Professor NL Høyen Skal i audiens hos Paven ( Prof. NL Høyen before the audience with the Pope ; from left to right: PC Skovgaard kneeling, Georgia Skovgaard, Edele Birgitte Høyen and NL Høyen)
- ↑ Description of the picture ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Skovgaard Museum website
- ↑ CV Joakim Frederik Skovegaard; Website of the Skovgaard Museum (Danish) ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ CV of Niels Kristian Skovegaard; Website of the Skovgaard Museum (Danish) ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ CV of Susette Cathrine Skovegaard; Skovgaard Museum website (Danish) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Grave site of Georgia Marie Louise Skovgaard
- ↑ Complete title: Udsigt fra Sjællands nordkyst over Kattegat mod Kullen. Sommeraften ( view from the north coast of Zealand over the Kattegat to Kullen . Summer evening )
- ^ Kunstindex Danmark: Brief overview of museums that contain works by PC Skovgaard (Danish)
- ↑ a b c d Kunstindex Danmark: Skovgaard's Scholarships (Danish)
- ↑ Declaration on the Skovgaard Medaljen on the website of the Skovgaard Museum (Danish) ( Memento of the original from 10 June 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Dansk art historian Forening: En revurdering af PC Skovgaard og hans kunst (Danish)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Skovgaard, PC |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Skovgaard, Peter Christian Thamsen (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 4, 1817 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ringsted |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 13, 1875 |
| Place of death | Copenhagen |