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Bertel Thorvaldsen's Portrait Bust of Eckersberg. Thorvaldsen's Museum, Copenhagen. Click here for enlargement.   Eckersberg, Christoffer Wilhelm (1783-1853), the father of Danish Golden Age Painting (1800-1850). The painting styles of this period were classicism, realism or naturalism, and the motifs were mainly quiet and idyllic such as  landscapes, animal paintings, seascapes (marine paintings), interiors, portraits (humans with peace of mind), still life with fruits and flower paintings. Eckersberg developed an objective realism which he applied in portraits, seascapes and classical architecture paintings. From 1811-13 he was a student of the neo-classicist painter J.L. David in Paris. In 1813 he visited Rome, where he met the Danish sculptor and leading neo-classicist Bertel Thorvaldsen. In Rome Eckersberg painted the famous portrait of Thorvaldsen. In 1818 he became professor of The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen (Charlottenborg), and from 1827-29 he was the director of the Academy. Eckersberg was, besides being a painter, a theorist and was known for his theories of perspective. (Realism)   "A View through Three of the North Western Arches of the Third Storey of the Colosseum", 1813-16. See full size image click here. Represented in the Danish Cultural Canon. "The Model Maddalena", c. 1815, The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen. Click here for full size image. .... 1 .... 2 .... 3 .... 4 .... 5 .... 6

1 Portrait of Bertel Thorvaldsen, 1814, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. 2 Carnival in Rome. 1810. 3 Eckersberg's theories of perspective. 4 "The Abolition of the Adscription". See also The Liberty Memorial in Copenhagen. 5 "The Nathanson Family Portrait", 1818, The Danish National Gallery, Copenhagen. 6 "Woman in front of a Mirror", 1841, The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen.

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"View of Toledo", 1597-99, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. El Greco (1541-1614). "The Greek" (Domenico Theotocopuli). Greek-Spanish painter, sculptor and architect. He was born in Crete. He signed his paintings with his real name in Greek characters.  After working as an icon painter, he left Crete in 1568 to study painting in Venice. He was influenced by the Venetian Renaissance painter Titian and the Mannerist painter Tintoretto. In 1570 he moved to Rome, where he got influenced by Michelangelo's Mannerist style (a reaction against the flawless Renaissance style in which the colours and the proportions of humans, architecture and space were unnatural). From 1577 he lived in Spain, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was regarded as a genius of the Spanish School in Toledo. In his religious paintings he expressed his passion of the Counter-Reformation in Spain. (Mannerism)   .... 1 .... 2 .... 3 .... 4 .... 5 .... 6 1 The Burial of Count Orgaz", 1586, Church of Santo Tomé, Toledo, Spain.  2 "The Assumption of the Virgin", 1577–1579, Art Institute of Chicago, USA.  3   4 "The Opening of the Fifth Seal", 1608–1614, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  5 The Modena Triptych 6 "The Holy Trinity", 1577–1579, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

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1 "The Apostles Peter and Paul", 1592, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. 2 The Apostle Thomas, El Greco's House and Museum, Toledo, Spain.. 3 "S. Domenico in preghiera (prayer)", 1600-1610. 4 "Portrait of a Cardinal" 1600, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 5-6 "The Disrobing of Christ" c. 1600, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. "The Disrobing of Christ", 1577–1579, Sacristy of the Cathedral, Toledo. 7 "The concert of the angels", 1608-1614.

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Ensor, James Sidney (1860-1949). Belgian painter, printmaker and draftsman. He was born in Ostende, where he lived his whole life. From 1877-80 he studied history and religious painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He began his artistic career as portrait painter. Ensor's first painting style was characterized by dark and melancholy colours, strong brushstrokes and an earthy realism with tendencies towards the fantastic, about 1883 his palette became more bright, and about 1887 his paintings were filled with strong light and bright colours. Ensor was one of the founders of the avant-garde group Les Vingt (the Twenty), which consisted of artists, writers and musicians, the goal was to promote new artistic initiatives in Europe - Ensor exhibited with the group until 1888, when his paintings, particularly "Christ's Entry into Brussels", were rejected as scandalous, even though the public and the critics did not like his works, he continued exhibiting, and gradually he won international acclaim. The mid-1880s were years of personal crisis, his family forbid him to marry the woman he loved, again he took up religious subjects in his paintings. From 1885 he mainly worked as graphics artist - in the period 1887-1900 he created his most original works.   "The Rower", 1883, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

Ensor had a special preference for the grotesque and demonic such as masks and skeletons - a pessimistic view of  human nature, he was influenced by Goya, Bruegel, Boschs' grotesque fantasy and the demon-plagued world of the German painter and copperplate engraver Martin Schongauer - sinister atmosphere, bizarre humour and bitter irony characterized his paraphrases of dead, love and human sin. Ensor had a strong influence on the German expressionists and the surrealists. During the last years of his life, his drawings reflected uncertainty - Ensor also wrote music and designed ballet scenery - he continued to paint until his death. Among his masterpieces is "The Temptation of St. Anthony", 1887, Museum of Modern Art, New York City. Ensor was knighted as a Baron by King Albert in 1929. James Ensor's house in Ostende is now museum with memorabilia of the artists. (Symbolism)

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Eriksen, Edvard (1876-1959). Danish sculptor. He was born in Copenhagen, and he died in Copenhagen. He served his four years apprenticeship under the sculptor Sophus Petersen, after this he was educated at Technical School and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 1904 he received the Eckersberg Medal. From 1906 he traveled throughout Europe, he stayed in Florence and Carrara for a time. From 1908-19 he taught at the Copenhagen Academy. In 1916 he was appointed Professore Onorario (Honorary Professor) of the Fine Art Academy in Carrara, Italy. In 1930 he took the position of museum conservator at Thorvaldsens Museum. Eriksen's sculptor "The Little Mermaid", 1913, became world famous. "The Little Mermaid", was donated by the patron of art brewer Carl Jacobsen, casted in bronze by the court bronze caster Lauritz Rasmussen, placed at Langelinie in Copenhagen. The sculptor was influenced by H.C. Andersen's fairytale "The Little Mermaid", 1837, and was created as a tribute to the prima ballerina Ellen Price (1878-1968). In 1909 the brewer Jacobsen attended the ballet, and became fascinated by Ellen Price as "The Little Mermaid", and she posed for the sculptor, however it was Eline Eriksen, the artists wife, who posed for his nude studies. The sculptor is a national symbol and a famous tourist attraction.       Selected works: - "The Hope", 1904, marble, Danish National Gallery, Copenhagen. - "The Fall and Expulsion from Paradise", (Romantic Naturalism), 1905, marble, Danish National Gallery, Copenhagen. - "Silent Prayer", 1906, he received the little gold medal from the Academy for the painting. - Three oversized statues for King Christian 9.'s and Queen Louise's sarcophagi, 1910-18, Roskilde Cathedral. - "The Crucified Christ", 1925, St Markus Church, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. -  The patron saints of painting and sculpture, 1929, marble reliefs, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (Glyptotek: collection of sculptures, founded by the brewer Carl Jacobsen, named after his brewery Ny Carlsberg). - Ten reliefs of patron saints, 1930-31, the façade of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek of the north and south. - Decorations of the vault in the Craftsman Society's ceremonial hall, 1932, Copenhagen. - "Clumsy Hans or Numskull Jack", 1942, placed outside the Rising School in Odense (H.C. Andersen's native town), 1966.   The Little Mermaid, 1913, Langelinie, Copenhagen.  Photo: Kirsten Petersen

Joergen Nash (1920-2004). Danish writer, painter, professor and the brother of Asger Jorn. Nash was known as the murder of the Little Mermaid (an anti-happening). Vandalism against the Little Mermaid had happened several times. In 1964 the Mermaids head has been sawed off - a trial for homicide, the Danish Police search for murder suspects, and Nash had been questioned by the police, and the case was dropped. In 1997 Nash's memories "The Mermaid-murderer returned to the scene of his crime" was published, and in the book he confessed having done it - with a hacksaw he sawed the head of and threw it into Utterslev bog north of Copenhagen.

. Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale "The Little Mermaid", 1837.  "Her skin was as soft and tender as a rose petal, and her eyes were as blue as the deep sea, but like all the others she had no feet. Her body ended in a fish tail." "I shall compound you a draught, and before sunrise you must swim to the shore with it, seat yourself on dry land, and drink the draught down. Then your tail will divide and shrink until it becomes what the people on earth call a pair of shapely legs. But it will hurt, it will feel as if a sharp sword slashed through you. Everyone who sees you will say that you are the most graceful human being they have ever laid eyes on, for you will keep your gliding movement and no dancer will be able to tread as lightly as you. But every step you take will feel as if you were treading upon knife blades so sharp that blood must flow. I am willing to help you, but are you willing to suffer all this?" (the witch to the Little Mermaid). (Naturalism)  H. C. Andersen's papercuts . ....   ....   ....   ....   ....   1. "The little Mermaid", stamp issued by Monaco in 1980. The Little Mermaid and the Prince. The French title "La Petite Sirene" (The little Siren) refers to The Little Mermaids beautiful singing voice, which she gave to the witch in the hope, that she will be given human qualities and married the handsome Prince. .

....   ....   ....   ....   ....   "The genetically altered Mermaid", 2000, by the artist Bjoern Noergaard - placed on Langelinie in 2006 . Martin Sortberg Brosboel,  "The little Mermaid"    Drawing to "The  little Mermaid"   H. C. Andersen (1805-75)   The Danish stamp issued on the occasion of the fairytale writer's 200th anniversary on April 2nd 2005 .

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. Ernst, Max (1891-1976). German self-taught painter and graphics artist. He was born in Brühl near Cologne, and he died in Paris. (Surrealism)    ....   ....       "After Us-Motherhood", 1927,  Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany

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Fabriano, da Gentile (1370-1427), Italian painter. Most of his work has been destroyed including frescos for The Doge's Palace, Venice and for St. John in Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome. His major surviving work was the altarpiece of the "Adoration of the Holy Kings" (Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, 1423), painted for the church of Sta Trinità in Florence, which placed him on a level with Ghiberti as the greatest exponent of the International Style. (International Style)

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. Flemalle, Master of. Master of Flémalle alias Robert Campin? who was active from 1406-44. In art history it has generally been agreed that the Master of Flémalle was identical with Campin, a leading painter in Tournai in Belgium - the identification with Campin has been based on resemblance to the paintings of the Master of Flémalle and paintings made by apprentices of Campin (Jacques Daret and Rogier van der Weyden). The paintings of the Master of Flémalle represented a radical break with the elegant International Style, and together with van Eyck he was one of the founders of the Dutch way of painting. The most famous work dedicated to the Master of Flémalle was the Mérode Altar and also "The Marriage of the Virgin", The Prado Museum, Madrid, "Birth of Jesus" Musee des Beaux-Arts, Dijon and "Madonna and Child Before a Fire Screen", National Gallery, London.  The Master of Flémalle's paintings were characterized by less successful foreshortenings, surface structure, reflection light and hidden symbolism - nearly every detail contained a symbolic message. (Gothic)       "Birth of Jesus" Musee des Beaux-Arts, Dijon   Robert Campin, Flemalle Panels: Saint Veronica, c. 1430, Frankfurt, Staedelsches Kunstinstitut. Click here for enlargement

St Luke's Gospel 1:28-38: "The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her."

Master of Flémalle (Robert Campin?), The Mérode Altar, c.1425-28, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Cloister Collection). The central part of the triptych "The Annunciation", the archangel Gabriel announce to Virgin Mary her Divine Motherhood. .   The Mérode-Altar: a triptych, an altarpiece made up of three wood panels, consisted of one central panel with two wings that could close over the cenral panel, the wings may be decorated on the reverse. The left wing: shows two kneeling donors outside the Virgins room. The roses (rose bush) symbolize mercy, the violets humility and the daisies modesty. The flower symbols are connected to Virgin Mary. . The central panel: the room of the Annunciation scene is a sitting room in a townsman house, the first townsman house represented in an altarpiece. Coat of arms are placed in the windows, presumably belonging to the patrons. When the archangel Gabriel appears to the Virgin, she studies the Law of the Bible or the Psalms of David - in Annunciation scenes she also could have pointed to verses of Isaiah 7:14 "Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel". The lily symbolizes innocence, the Immaculate Conception. The three-lobed lily is the symbol of The Holy Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or it refers to the Virgins virginity before, under and after the incarnation. Often in Annunciation scenes the archangel Gabriel is holding the cross - in the panel a flying creature in light beams bears a golden cross, the symbol of the  Christian faith.  The copper pot in the niche and the towels symbolize "The cleanest vessel" and "The spring of living water". The tallow candle on the table is just blowed out - perhaps the Lord's divine energy blowed out the candle? The right wing: shows Joseph working in his workshop. The meaning of the two box-like objects (one on the table, the other outside the open window) has been discussed. The boxes have been identified as mousetraps - according to the Holy Augustin God has to reveal himself in human form to dupe the devil "The cross of the Lord was the devil's mousetrap".   .

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Fra Angelico (c.1395-1455) (Early Renaissance)         "The Annunciation", 1438/45, Museo de san Marco, Florence

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. Francesca, Piero della (c.1410-1492) (Renaissance)                   "The Baptisme of Christ", 1450, National Gallery, London

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. Freddie, Wilhlem (Christian Frederik Wilhelm Carlsen) (1909-1995). Danish painter and sculptor. He was a self-taught artist apart from short studies in 1932 at the Technical School in Copenhagen, and at the Graphic School at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1929 he exhibited for the first time at The Autum Exhibition for Painters in Copenhagen. In the 1930's he traveled in France, Germany and Belgium, later in Japan, Hong Kong, India and Iran. He resided in Stockholm from 1944-50 and from 1963, during the winter-half-year, in Verdelot in France. In the late 1920s he made some of the first Danish abstract paintings. In 1930 he painted "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" and with it Surrealism was introduced to Scandinavia, Freddie became the most prominent Danish representative of the style. His paintings provoked the spectators or filled them with enthusiasm. He was accused of painting pornography, his works were confiscated, exhibitions were closed, and he himself was put into prison. An  example of his so-called pornographic works was the female portrait bust named "Sexparalysappeal", 1936 - a discreet painted penis on the left cheek pointed towards the mouth. During the German occupation of Denmark Freddie was pursued by the Gestapo because of his painting "Meditation on the anti-Nazi Love" - with Hitler as a background figure, 1936, and in 1944 he had to fled to Sweden. In 1961 followed a new confiscation - in 1963 the works were handed back to him. In the late 1950s his paintings became more abstract, among the later works were e.g. "Voyageuses de Wagon-Lits", 1963, and "The Suicide. Drama on the Seine", 1965 (Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark). From 1953-56 Freddie was a member of artist group "The Spiral", from 1966-71 of the art movement Groenningen and from 1971 a member of The Free Exhibition. From 1973-79 he was professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 1976 he received Thorvaldsen's Medal. (Surrealism)   ....   ....   Poster for Tivoli in Copenhagen "Tivoli Denmark", 1993 "Sexparalys- appeal", 1936, KUNSTEN, Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Denmark . ....   ....

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. Friedrich, Caspar David (1774-1840) (Romanticism)         "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog", c. 1818, Hamburger Kunsthalle

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