Constantin Hansen

Constantin Hansen studied at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Training under Gustav Friedrich Hetsch, Johan Frederik Clemens and Christian August Lorentzen is recorded. Sigurd Konstantin-Hansen and Agnes Börjesson are recorded as having studied under Constantin Hansen. The recorded working language is Danish. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history. Places of work recorded in the authority are Amsterdam and Haarlem. Employment is recorded with Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Works named in the authority record are A Group of Danish Artists in Rome, The Danish Constituent Assembly, Resting Model, The Artist's Eldest Sister, Vestatemplet med dets omgivelser and Portrait of a Little Girl, Elise Købke, with a Cup in front of her. Work by Constantin Hansen is recorded in the collections of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Finnish National Gallery, Nationalmuseum, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Nivaagaard Museum. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog, Professor and etatsråd.

He was born in Rome, the son of portrait painter Hans Hansen. The family soon relocated to Vienna, where Constanze Mozart, the widow of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, became godmother at his christening and he was named after her. Within his first year, the family moved to Copenhagen, where he was raised.

He entered the architecture school of the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) at 12 years of age, but changed his course of study to painting at the age of 21. He began his training under Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg in 1828. He lost both his parents at about this time to typhus, and became the sole supporter of his younger sisters. He took over several commissions that had belonged to his father, including some copies to the Portrait Collection at Frederiksborg Palace and decorative paintings to Christiansborg Palace.

In 1835 he received a two-year stipend to travel abroad, which was followed up by an additional year's stipend. His travels took him through Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Nuremberg and Munich on his way to Italy, where he travelled extensively and stayed longer periods in Rome, Naples and Pompeii. In Italy he met fellow Dane, the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. He travelled with other Danish artists, including Jørgen Roed, Christen Købke and decorative painter Georg Hilker (1807–1875). The Copenhagen Art Union (Kunstforening) commissioned a painting from Hansen in 1837. He provided them with A Group of Danish Artists in Rome, (Et Selskab af danske Kunstnere i Rom). In addition he painted Italian folk scenes, and studies of Roman antiquities and architecture that reflect Eckersberg's spirit. After eight years in Italy he finally returned to Denmark, staying briefly in Munich, where he studied the technique of fresco painting, in anticipation of a commission, along with Georg Hilker, to decorate the University of Copenhagen's vestibule on Frue Plads. This work continued from 1844 until 1853. Hansen painted the mythological figures, while Hilker painted the decorations and frameworks.

He married Magdalene Barbara Købke in 1846, and they had thirteen children. However, four children died within one year after being born and one of their sons, Hans Christian, was killed at the age of nineteen, when he fell overboard from the mast of the sailing ship on which he was a sailor. In 1854 he was named professor at the Academy, but first became member of the Academy in 1864. One of his daughters, Elise Konstantin-Hansen, (1858–1946) became a recognized painter, and another Kristiane Konstantin-Hansen (1848–1925), became a tapestry weaver.

KID Kunst Index Danmark ("Art Index Denmark") Danish Biographical Encyclopedia ("Dansk biografisk Leksikion") Images of the Old Norse Gods Wikimedia Commons Monrad, Kasper (1993). The Golden Age of Danish Painting. New York: Hudson Hills Press.