Christen Købke (Danish, 1810–1848)

b. 1810 — d. 1848

Christen Købke was only twelve years old when he entered the Copenhagen Academy in 1822. He was first taught by landscape and portrait painter Christian August Lorentzen (1746-1828) and subsequently by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-1853). The latter rigorously reformed art education at the academy, stressing study after nature and live models. Even after Købke left the academy in 1832, he continued working with Eckersberg, becoming his friend. Eckersberg's involvement with the study of perspective and light strongly influenced Købke's work. Until 1833 Købke lived in the Copenhagen Citadel, where his father was a baker. Inspired by his surroundings, Købke produced his first major paintings, such as The North Gate of the Citadel (1834, Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen). The family moved not too far from the capital to the countryside near Blegdammen. There Købke created some of his famous lake views, generally painted in the studio after many outdoors drawing and sketching sessions. Frederiksborg Castle was another important subject, and he drew and painted it many times, showing his great ability in rendering varied light and atmospheric conditions. In 1838 Købke traveled via Dresden and Munich to Italy, where he visited Venice, Rome, and finally Naples. He studied Roman antiquities and wall paintings and used his sketches upon his return to Denmark in 1840. With his View of Marina Piccola on Capri (private collection), he tried to become a member of the Royal Academy in 1846, but the work was not accepted. He had unwillingly moved back to Copenhagen in 1845 and worked as a decorative painter in order to improve his difficult financial situation. As such, he was involved with the painted decorations of the Bertel Thorvaldsen museum. Thorvaldsen had collected the work of many of his contemporaries; however, he had never bought a work by Købke. This illustrates the lack of recognition of Købke's work during his lifetime. Soon after his death from pneumonia at the age of thirty-seven, Købke was almost forgotten. At the end of the nineteenth century, this situation gradually changed, and today Købke is regarded as one of the most important figures in Danish nineteenth-century painting.