A Young Artist (Ditlev Blunck) Examining a Sketch in a Mirror

A young artist (Ditlev Blunck) considers a sketch in a mirror
Danish: En ung kunstner (Ditlev Blunck) betragter en skitse i et spejl
Artist Wilhelm Bendz
Year 1826 (1826)
Medium oil on canvas
Dimensions 98 cm × 85 cm (39 in × 33 in)
Location Statens Museum for Kunst, København
Website www.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/samlingerne/vaerk/B255

A young artist (Ditlev Blunck) considers a sketch in a mirror is a painting by Wilhelm Bendz from 1826; it is one in the series of the Danish Golden Age portraits of artists.[1]

Work's title

The work title is a young artist (Ditlev Blunck) considers a sketch in a mirror. The painting shows the young artist, Ditlev Blunck, who has taken a break to examine a sketch for a portrait painting of George Valtin Sonne, which is in the process of portraying his brother, engraver, Carl Edvard Sonne,[2] by holding it up in front of a mirror to see if the composition works.

Genesis

The painting was made in 1826 at this time was Wilhelm Bendz was preoccupied artists' new role, as they no longer were considered craftsmen but as intellectuals, artists in the modern sense. He painted in the 1820s a series of portraits of artists at work. Here it is Bendz's fellow student Ditlev Blunck, who is in the process of painting a portrait of the painter Jørgen Sonne.

Ditlev Blunck, A bataillemaler, Jørgen Sonne (1801-90) in his study from 1824 to 1827, Statens Museum for Kunst
Ditlev Blunck, Portrait of the engraver Carl Edvard Sonne, ca. 1826 Statens Museum for Kunst

Reason

The painting shows a time when painters regarded themselves as seriously working artists. The image of painter Ditlev Blunck, standing in a packed room surrounded by his tools, paintbox, palette and easel and a skull and a sketchpad, signals that this work is serious, and the thorough study necessary before the execution of the painting.

Other artist portraits of Wilhelm Bendz

Other portraits of artists by Ditlev Blunck

Notes

  1. ↑ Jens Peter Munk: ‘Kunstnerportræt – selvportræt’, in: Meddelelser fra Thorvaldsens Museum, 1994, p. 103-113.
  2. ↑ Patricia G. Berman, Nyt lys over 1800-tallets maleri, ISBN 978-87-1123245-3, side 63

Sources

External links

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Danish Wikipedia.
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