Johan Fredrik Eckersberg

Johan Fredrik Eckersberg (16 June 1822 – 13 July 1870) was a Norwegian painter most noted for his landscapes. Eckersberg was a prominent figure in the transition from Romanticism to Realism in 19th-century Norwegian art, both as an artistic painter and a teacher at his own art school in Oslo.

Background Johan Fredrik Eckersberg was born at Drammen in Buskerud county, Norway. He was placed in a mercantile office in Oslo (then Christiania) at the age of eighteen, but having previously been in the Netherlands for several years, and visited Amsterdam, he had there imbibed a taste for art, so that after two years, against his father's wish, he relinquished his post, and entered the technical drawing-school in Christiania. Rapidly developing his talent for painting, Eckersberg trained at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry (Tegneskolen) under Johannes Flintoe (1843–46). He obtained one of the Government stipend (Statens stipend) for young artists and went to Düsseldorf, where he studied landscape painting under Johann Wilhelm Schirmer from 1846–48 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Career

During the summer of 1846, Eckersberg followed Hans Gude and August Cappelen on a study trip to Gudbrandsdalen, where they visited Vaage Municipality and Lom Municipality. He returned to Christiania in 1848, where his works commanded a very fair sale. Eckersberg was plagued by bad lungs and needed to stay in a warm climate. In 1852, he was obliged to visit Madeira for his health, where, having first devoted his time to portrait painting to increase his rather slender funds, he traveled over the island, making sketches, from which he afterwards painted his series of pictures of Madeira.

He was not a great colourist and was too much a realist to be led by imagination. However, he made use of clear, cool colors, with magnificent views of plains and distant mountains. The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo owns two of his major works, Fra Valle i Setesdal (1852) and Fra Jotunheimen (1866), besides ten smaller landscapes.

Personal life In 1850 Johan Fredrik Eckersberg married Laura Martin Hansen (1821–1878). Eckersberg was made a knight of the Order of Vasa in 1866 and was appointed a knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1870. Eckersberg died of tuberculosis at Sandvika near Christiania.

Selected works Fra Valle i Setesdal, 1852 Jesus i Getsemane, 1854 Brudeferd på Hardangerfjorden, 1865 Norsk høyfjell, soloppgang, 1865 Solnedgang på fjellet, 1865 Fra Jotunheimen, 1866 Mannesker i Fjellandskap, 1862