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 | |
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| Artist | Wilhelm Bendz |
| Year | 1826 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 98 cm × 85 cm (39 in × 33 in) |
| Location | Statens Museum for Kunst, København |
| Website | www |
A young artist (Ditlev Blunck) considers a sketch in a mirror is a painting by Wilhelm Bendz from 1826; it is one of the series of Danish Golden Age portraits of artists.[1]
Work's title
[edit]The painting shows young Ditlev Blunck taking a break to examine a sketch for a portrait of George Valtin Sonne painting his brother, engraver Carl Edvard Sonne,[2] by holding it up in front of a mirror to see if the composition works.
Genesis
[edit]The painting was executed in 1826 at time when Wilhelm Bendz was preoccupied by artists' new role; no longer craftsmen but instead considered intellectuals, artists in the modern sense of the word. During the 1820s he painted a series of portraits of artists at work. Here the model is Bendz's fellow student, Ditlev Blunck, in the process of painting a portrait of the painter Jørgen Sonne.
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Reason
[edit]The painting shows a time when painters took themselves seriously as working artists. The image of Blunck standing in a packed room surrounded by his tools, paintbox, palette and easel, skull and sketchpad, signals that his work is serious, and requires thorough study before execution.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Jens Peter Munk: ‘Kunstnerportræt – selvportræt’, in: Meddelelser fra Thorvaldsens Museum, 1994, p. 103-113.
- ^ Patricia G. Berman, Nyt lys over 1800-tallets maleri, ISBN 978-87-1123245-3, side 63
Sources
[edit]- Klaus P. Mortensen, Spejlinger - litteratur og refleksion, 2000, ISBN 87-90326-28-8
