Emilius Ditlev Bærentzen, usually known as Emil Bærentzen, (30 October 1799, Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 – 14 February 1868, Copenhagen) was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 portrait painter and lithographer, active during the Golden Age of Danish Painting

Golden Age of Danish Painting

The Danish Golden Age covers the period of creative production in Denmark, especially during the first half of the 19th century. Although Copenhagen had suffered from fires, bombardment and national bankruptcy, the arts took on a new period of creativity catalysed by Romanticism from Germany...

.

Biography

Born in Copenhagen on 30 October 1799, Bærentzen served an apprenticeship at the pharmacy in Nykøbing Sjælland

Nykøbing Sjælland

Nykøbing Sjælland is a town in Denmark, located in northern Odsherred on the island of Zealand. Located on the Isefjord, it has a population of 5,212 . It is located in Odsherred municipality which is part of Region Sjælland...

 but then travelled to Christiansted on the then Danish island of St. Croix

Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of...

 in the West Indies where he worked in one of the government offices. Five years later he returned to Denmark and, after qualifying as a lawyer, moved into painting which until then he had practiced as a hobby. In 1821, he entered the Danish Academy where he studied under Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig , to Henrik Vilhelm Eckersberg, painter and carpenter, and Ingeborg Nielsdatter...

. He was awarded the little silver medal in 1826 and the large silver medal the following year. He soon became one of Copenhagen's most popular portrait painters. His paintings were characterized by an elegant but sober style, free of psychological trimmings in accordance with contemporary practice. One of his most successful works is the portrait of Søren Kirkegaard's fiancée Regine Olsen (1840).

In 1837, he began to specialize in lithography with H.L. Danschell who managed his deceased father-in-law's oilcloth factory where stones were used to colour the fabric. This led to the founding of a lithographic company, Emilius Bärentzen & Co.s litografiske Institut, which later became Hoffensberg, Jespersen & Fr. Trap. Bærentzen made lithographs of many of the period's most important figures. He continued to work both as a lithographer and artist until 1866 when he painted the portraint of Cosmus Bræstrup for the Freemasons lodge in Helsingør. He died on 14 February 1868.

Selected works

Bærentzen was a very popular and productive artist. Among his works are:

• Familien Winther (1827)
• Familien Tutein (1828)
• Det Schramske familiebillede (1829)
• Anders Ancker (1829)
• En 110 år gammel invalid (1833)
• C.W. Eckersberg (1835)
• Slotspræst Søren Schiødte (1836)
• Søren Ludvig Tuxen (1837)
• Adam Oehlenschläger (1839)
• Regine Olsen (1840)
• Augusta Nielsen (c. 1840)
• Johanne Luise Heiberg (1841)
• Frederik VI på lit de parade (1841)
• Christian VIII (1842)
• Dronn. Caroline Amalie (1842)
• Laurids Skau (1844)
• Johan Fr. Schlegel (c. 1847)
• Operasangerinden Catharine Simonsen f. Rysslaender (1844-45)