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

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]

A young artist (Ditlev Blunck) considers a sketch in a mirror
Danish: En ung kunstner (Ditlev Blunck) betragter en skitse i et spejl
ArtistWilhelm Bendz
Year1826 (1826)
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions98 cm × 85 cm (39 in × 33 in)
LocationStatens Museum for Kunst, København
Websitewww.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/samlingerne/vaerk/B255

Work's title

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

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.

Ditlev Blunck, A bataillemaler, Jørgen Sonne (1801-90) in his study from 1824-1827, NationalStatens 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 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.

Other artist portraits by 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
  • Klaus P. Mortensen, Spejlinger - litteratur og refleksion, 2000, ISBN 87-90326-28-8


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