The career of Christian Albrecht Jensen comprised over 400 portraits, capturing the leading figures of the Danish Golden Age during the nineteenth century. Despite achieving substantial commercial popularity in Copenhagen, his impressionistic painting style often clashed with the rigid standards of the contemporary artistic establishment, leading to a complex professional legacy that spanned from international commissions to eventual financial decline.
Early Education and Travels
Born in 1792 at Bredstedt, Jensen received his formal training at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen between 1810 and 1816 under Christian August Lorentzen. He furthered his artistic development at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden from 1817 to 1818. During an extended trip to Rome beginning in 1818, he integrated into a community of Danish-German artists, producing informal portraits of figures like the sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund and the writer Bernhard Severin Ingemann.
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Upon returning to Copenhagen in the winter of 1822/23, Jensen gained immediate favor with the public for his psychological approach to portraiture, which contrasted with the prevailing Neoclassical style of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. Despite this popularity, he faced consistent institutional opposition. When a professorial chair at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts became vacant following the death of his former teacher Lorentzen in 1828, Jensen was bypassed for the appointment.
International Commissions and Declining Fortunes
By 1830, dwindling local commissions forced Jensen into financial difficulty, leading him to collaborate with the historical collections at Frederiksborg Castle. He faced persistent criticism from art historian Niels Lauritz Høyen, who famously characterized his work as unfinished. Seeking stability, he accepted international work, including a series of eleven portraits for the Pulkovo Observatory near Saint Petersburg, which featured notable scientists such as Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm von Struve.
Later Life and Legacy
The 1840s marked a sharp decline in his career, exacerbated by his political views and ongoing critical disapproval. Although he stopped active painting after completing his final portraits of Andreas Christian Krog and Andreas Gottlob Rudelbach in 1854, his contributions were formally acknowledged in 1858 when he was made a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog. He spent his final years as a conservator and assistant at the Royal Print Collection before his death in 1870, with his burial at the Garnison Cemetery.
Fast facts
- Born: 1792, Bredstedt
- Died: 1870, Copenhagen
- Education: Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
- Movement: Danish Golden Age
- Awards: Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog (1858)
- Total portrait count: Over 400
- Burial site: Garnison Cemetery
Questions readers ask
Why did critics disapprove of Jensen's work?
Prominent critic Niels Lauritz Høyen characterized his style as unfinished, failing to align with the formal standards of the Danish artistic establishment.
Who were some of the notable figures he painted?
His subjects included Hans Christian Andersen, N. F. S. Grundtvig, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Hans Christian Ørsted, and Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Achievements
- Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog — 1858
- Notable work: Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig
- Notable work: Cathrine Jensen, nee Lorenzen, the artist's wife
- Notable work: Portrait of Cathrine Jensen, née Lorenzen, the Artist's Wife Wearing a Turban
- Movement: Danish Golden Age
