A colossal painting featuring over 200 figures, titled The Fall of the Angels, secured a professorship for Asmus Jacob Carstens at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. His career spanned Denmark and Germany, navigating the rigid structures of the eighteenth-century art world while transitioning between the established traditions of Neoclassicism and emerging Romantic sensibilities.
Early Apprenticeship and Training
Born in 1754 in Sanct Jürgen near Schleswig, Carstens initially trained as a cooper for five years. Despite this early vocational focus, he pursued a passion for painting. He departed his apprenticeship in 1776 to enroll at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. During his seven-year tenure there, he supported himself by creating red chalk portraits while completing historical compositions such as The Death of Æschylus and Æolus and Ulysses.
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In 1783, Carstens traveled to Italy, where the work of Giulio Romano left a significant impact. Financial constraints limited his progress to Milan and Mantua. Following this trip, he resided in Lübeck for five years working as a portraitist. A subsequent introduction to a wealthy patron by the poet Overbeck facilitated a move to Berlin. This period saw the creation of large-scale historical projects and drawings intended for fresco commissions that frequently remained unfinished or lost.
Rome and Artistic Legacy
In 1792, a travelling pension allowed Carstens to relocate to Rome, where he studied works by Raphael and Michelangelo. After a public conflict with the Prussian academy, he remained in Rome for the duration of his life. He developed a style prioritizing drawing in pencil, chalk, and watercolour, with notable works including Plato's Symposium and the Battle of Rossbach. He died in 1798 and is buried at the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
Historical Reassessment
Recent scholarship has shifted the perception of Carstens from a strictly Neoclassical artist to a precursor of early German Romanticism. The 2021 authentication of an oil painting dated 1789, discovered in Aarhus, revealed emotional and symbolic depth consistent with Romantic subjectivity. This discovery links his artistic profile to later figures like Caspar David Friedrich, bridging the gap between Enlightenment-era formal idealism and 19th-century symbolic expression.
Fast facts
- Born: 1754, Schleswig
- Died: 1798, Rome
- Occupations: Painter, cooper, graphic designer, sculptor, draftsperson
- Notable works: Bacchus and Cupid; Fingal´s Battle with the Spirit of Loda
- Education: Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
- Burial place: Protestant Cemetery, Rome
Questions readers ask
What media did Asmus Jacob Carstens primarily use?
He focused on drawing with pencil, chalk, and watercolour, occasionally creating frescoes, while rarely utilizing oil paint.
Who were some of his contemporaries in Rome?
Bertel Thorvaldsen and Joseph Anton Koch studied under him and produced copies of his designs.
Achievements
- Notable work: Bacchus and Cupid
- Notable work: Fingal´s Battle with the Spirit of Loda
