Johan Laurentz Jensen | Floral Still Life painter

Johan Laurentz Jensen (1800-1856), Danish painter🎨, was born in Gjentofte, near Copenhagen. He began his formal art training at the age of 14, studying under Fritzsch at the Copenhagen Academy, where he won medals in 1817-1818.

In 1822 Jensen moved to France to study porcelain manufacturing in Sevres, where Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark had recommended him.

He remained there for a few months until he was appointed Principal painter at the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory in 1825. Jensen's paintings show a high degree of finish; his colors are pure and brilliant.

He combines firmness with sensitivity and subtlety in a most appealing and competent way.

From 1833-1835 Jensen lived in a Scandinavian artist colony in Rome, where he met the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldson 1768-1844, Thorvaldsen's vases are rendered in these paintings, and are on display in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen today.

Style

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Jensen's flowers were typically arranged as a bouquet standing in a vase, usually on a tray.

A dark neutral background helped to emphasize the light colourful tones of the flowers. Roses were often the principal subject, sometimes set off with another flower such as a lilly or with several flowers of different varieties.

Jensen mastered the art of reproducing nature. His appreciation of earlier masterpieces can be seen in his own work.

His paintings characteristically are rich in colour and variety. Some of them depict flowers lying on a table or in a basket, perhaps strung together in a wreath.

While he was one of several artists who painted exotic plants from Rosenborg, he was happiest when he was painting out in the country at Gentofte, sometimes painting wild flowers or strawberries. Some of his works from the 1840s contain exotic fruits or even birds.

Johan Laurentz Jensen, spesso indicato come J. L. Jensen (8 marzo 1800 - 26 marzo 1856), è stato un artista Danese🎨 specializzato nella pittura floreale.

Parallelamente ai suoi studi all'Accademia danese, divenne allievo di Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg e anche di Cladius Detlev Fritzsch.

Specializzato nella pittura floreale, Jensen ha continuato la sua formazione a Parigi sotto i fratelli fiamminghi della pittura floreale, Gérard e Cornelis van Spaendonck, e presso la fabbrica di porcellana di Sèvres dove ha imparato l'arte della pittura floreale in miniatura.

Carriera

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Prendendo come punto di partenza la pittura floreale olandese del 17° secolo, ha rilanciato l'arte in Danimarca.

Le sue composizioni floreali avevano spesso un valore sia decorativo che simbolico.

Le piante danesi erano spesso accompagnate da fiori e frutti esotici, a volte persino uccelli. Inoltre è diventato capo artista presso la Danish Porcelain Factory.

Jensen aveva una vasta cerchia di clienti e molti studenti, in particolare donne, tra cui Luisa d'Assia-Kassel che in seguito sposò il re Cristiano IX.

Dagli anni '80, le sue opere hanno ottenuto un ampio riconoscimento internazionale.

Molti sono esposti nello Statens Museum for Kunst e nel Thorvaldsens Museum.