I.W. Tegner

Isaac Wilhelm Tegner (23 June 1815 - 21 December 1893) was a Danish lithographer who was a co-founder of .

Early life and education Tegner was born in Helsingør, the son of master carpenter and boatbuilder Friderich Christian Tegner (1770–1837) and Inger Marie Poulsen (1780–1835). His father was a captain in Helsingør Fire Corps. Tegner began his education as an apprentice painter and became a journeyman in 1834. Already during his apprenticeship he began attending classes at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and was admitted to the model class. However, he soon moved on to learn lithography in Carl Henckel's workshop.

Career In 1838, he began working for Emil Bærentzen's institute, the most well-known company in the industry at the time. Together with two colleagues, Adolph Kittendorff and Karl Muller, he won 2,000 Danish rigsdaler in the lottery. They intended to invest the money in setting up their own company and thought of buying the Berlin Brothers' lithographic institute (founded 1840). However, Muller's death and the outbreak of the First Schleswig War delayed their plans. In 1836, Tegner partnered with a brother as Chr. And I. Tegner's Stentrykkeri. In 1840, he left it to start . While Kittendorff mainly devoted himself to reproducing artistic works, Tegner's specialty was portrait lithography. With the support of the Reiersen Foundation, he had sought further education in Berlin, Dresden and Paris, and his ability to make a likeness, his careful if somewhat dry execution made his works very popular. However, portrait lithography died out as photography improved and became more available. However, the company continued until Tegner's death.

Legacy Tegner is probably the Danish lithographer who has executed the most portraits; The Royal Danish Library's records show that in the years 1851–91 approx. 1,200 portraits from the company Tegner & Kittendorff. Some of his works were based on oil paintings. This was for instance the case with his portraits of Bertel Thorvaldsen (painting by Horace Vernet, Johanne Louise Heiberg (painting by Wilhelm Marstrand) and Peter Tordenskiold (painting by Balthasar Denner). Other works, such as his portraits of Bjørnson and Frithjof Nansen, Other works were created after live models.