The Russian Ship of the Line "Asow" and a Frigate at Anchor near Elsinore

1828 · Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

landscape

After 1821 seascapes had become Eckersberg's favourite subject. They allowed him to bring together his interest in nature, ships, and meteorology, and over the next three decades he had the opportunity to depict almost every conceivable type of ship in every marine situation imaginable. Eckersberg had studied Russian ships of the line on two occasions before embarking on the painting of the "Asow" in 1828.

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The Russian Ship of the Line "Asow" and a Frigate at Anchor near Elsinore

About the Artist

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

1783 – 1853

Danish painter. After being trained in Copenhagen and studying in Paris (1810-13) under Jacques-Louis David, he continued his studies in Rome (1814), where he executed a masterly portrait of his friend Thorvaldsen (Royal Academy, Copenhagen, 1815). Returning to Copenhagen in 1816, he occupied himself mainly with portraits, minutely rendering the features of his models with a Neoclassic feeling for c1arity and purity of line. He also painted many landscapes, however (as he had done in Rome), and as an influential teacher at the Copenhagen Academy (from 1818) he introduced painting from nature into the curriculum. He also executed some religious themes and subjects from Danish history in Christiansborg Palace. His pupils included Johan Christian Dahl and Christen Købke . He has been called 'the father of Danish painting' because of the influence he exerted on Danish painters in the second quarter of the 19th century. With Christen Købke he was the leading painter of the Danish 'Golden Age' (c. 1800-1850).

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