Christian August Lorentzen

Christian August Lorentzen was a self-taught Danish painter who specialized in portraits, historical paintings, and scenes from the comedies of Ludvig Holberg. He was born in Sønderborg, Denmark, in 1749, where his father was a watchmaker. He arrived in Copenhagen around 1771 and frequented the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, but it is unclear whether he received formal training. From 1779 to 1782, he went abroad to develop his skills, visiting the Netherlands, Antwerp, and Paris, where he copied old masters. He returned to Denmark in 1782 and became a more versatile artist. In a number of paintings, such as The Battle of Copenhagen (1801) and The Awful Night (1807), he documented key events from the English Wars between 1801 and 1814. He also painted portraits of his friends and family, as well as landscapes and scenes from Holberg's plays. He was a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts from 1803 until his death in 1828. He followed Nicolai Abildgaard as the Academy Director from 1809 to 1810. He exercised great influence on the next generation of painters, such as Martinus Rørbye, whom he instructed.