{{Short description|Danish painter (1792–1870)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Christian Albrecht Jensen | image = Jensen, Christian Albrecht (självporträtt 1836).jpg | caption = Self-portrait, 1836 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1792|6|26|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Bredstedt]], [[Duchy of Schleswig]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1870|7|13|1792|6|26|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]] | known_for = Painting | training = [[Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]] | movement = [[Danish Golden Age]] | notable_works = | patrons = }}
'''Christian Albrecht Jensen''' (26 June 1792 – 13 July 1870) was a Danish painter who specialised in [[portrait painting]] and was active during the [[Danish Golden Age]]. Painting more than 400 portraits over the course of his career, he depicted most of the leading figures of the Danish Golden Age, including the writer [[Hans Christian Andersen]], the painter [[Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg]], the sculptor [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]], the physicist [[Hans Christian Ørsted]] and the theologian [[N. F. S. Grundtvig]]. Although Jensen experienced considerable commercial success, he received little official appreciation from the artistic establishment of his day. In particular, the art historian and critic [[Niels Lauritz Høyen]] criticized his style, finding his paintings 'unfinished'.
==Early life and education== Jensen was born at [[Bredstedt]] in [[Nordfriesland]]. From 1810 to 1816, he attended the [[Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]] in Copenhagen where he studied under [[Christian August Lorentzen]]. From 1817 to 1818, he studied at the [[Dresden Academy of Fine Arts|Academy of Fine Arts]] in Dresden.
==Time abroad== [[Image:Hermann Ernst Freund.jpg|thumb|left|The sculptor [[Hermann Ernst Freund|H. E. Freund]] portrayed during Jensen's stay in Rome, 1818–20 ]] In 1818, he traveled to [[Rome]] by way of [[Vienna]], [[Venice]], [[Bologna]] and [[Florence]]. When he arrived, he joined the large colony of Danish-German artists' who lived in the city at the time and also met the sculptor [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]].
During his years in Rome, Jensen painted small, informal portraits of many of his fellow artists, including the writer [[Bernhard Severin Ingemann]] who visited Rome from 1818 to 1819, and the sculptor [[Hermann Ernst Freund]], Thorvaldsen's closest associate from 1818 to 1828.<ref name=Gyldendal>{{Cite web|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Billedkunst/Billedkunst,_nordisk_nyklassicisme/Christian_Albrecht_Jensen|title=C. A. Jensen|publisher=Gyldendal|accessdate=2010-08-23}}</ref>
After leaving Rome, he made an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself as a portrait painter in [[Hamburg]].
==Success and criticism== Back in Copenhagen in the winter of 1822/23, the portrait scene was dominated by [[Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg]]'s sober, Neoclassical style, yet Jensen's more psychological portraits won immediate popularity.<ref name=Gyldendal/> Up through the 1820s, he portrayed a large number of prominent members of Danish society but in spite of his commercial success he received little appreciation from art critics or from the establishment at the Academy and when a professorial chair became vacant after [[Christian August Lorentzen]] died in 1828 he was passed by.
[[Image:Carl Friedrich Gauss 1840 by Jensen.jpg|thumb|[[Carl Friedrich Gauss]], 1840 ]] After 1830, commissions dwindled and he experienced financial difficulties. In response, he started collaborating with the historical collections at [[Frederiksborg Castle]], painting both copies of older pictures and originals. This led to a controversy with [[Niels Lauritz Høyen]], an influential art historian and critic who, from the beginning, had been critical of his style, finding his pictures 'unfinished'.<ref name=Gyldendal/>
From 1837, he increasingly looked to other countries for customers. By the [[Pulkovo Observatory]], which opened near [[Saint Petersburg]], he was commissioned to paint 11 portraits of leading international scientists. His painting of [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] from that series remains the most famous portrait of the mathematician.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mathunion.org/general/prizes/gauss/portrait/|title=About the Gauss Portrait|publisher=International Mathematical Union|accessdate=2010-08-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826100713/http://www.mathunion.org/general/prizes/gauss/portrait/|archive-date=2010-08-26|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other portrayed scientists included the astronomer [[Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve|Wilhelm von Struve]].
==Late life== The 1840s brought a further decline in orders, prompted by his political views which were not in line with the [[nationalism|nationalist]] tendencies at the time as well as by continued criticism from Høyen. Eventually, after completing more than 400 portraits, he stopped painting. His last two works, portraits of Andreas Christian Krog (1854) and the theologian [[Andreas Gottlob Rudelbach]], are considered to be among his best.<ref name=Gyldendal/>
For the remainder of his life, he worked as an assistant at the Royal Print Collection and as a conservator, supplementing his income by selling paintings from his large art collection.<ref name=Gyldendal/>
==Gallery== <gallery class="center">
File:Cecilie Lønborg (1799-1882).jpg|''Cecilie Lønborg'', 1819 File:Cathrine Jensen, født Lorenzen, kunstnerens hustru.jpg|''Cathrine Jensen'' (the artist's wife), 1825 File:Birgitte Sobotker Hohlenberg.jpg|''Birgitte Sobotker Hohlenberg'', 1826 File:Adam Oehlenschlaeger (1825 painting).jpg|''[[Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger]]'', 1832 C.W. Eckersberg. (1832) (cropped).jpg|''[[Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg]]'', 1832 File:C.A. Jensen 1836 - HC Andersen.jpg|''[[Hans Christian Andersen]]'', 1836 File:N-f-s-grundtvig-portræt.jpg|''[[N. F. S. Grundtvig]]'', 1843 File:William Martin Leake by Christian Albrecht Jensen.jpg|[[William Martin Leake]], [[National Portrait Gallery, London]], 1838 File:Christian Albrecht Jensen 001.jpg|''[[Andreas Gottlob Rudelbach]]'', 1858
</gallery>
==See also== {{Commons category|Christian Albrecht Jensen}} * [[Art of Denmark]] * [[List of Danish painters]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last1=Cederstrøm |first1=Elisabeth |title=Grove Art Online |date=2003 |url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/display/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000044602 |chapter=Jensen, Christian Albrecht}}
{{Danish Golden Age}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Christian Albrecht}} [[Category:1792 births]] [[Category:1870 deaths]] [[Category:Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni]] [[Category:People from Nordfriesland]] [[Category:19th-century Danish painters]] [[Category:Danish male painters]] [[Category:19th-century Danish male artists]]