Laurits Tuxen | Skagen painter/sculptor

From: Art Museums of Skagen

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Laurits Regner Tuxen was brought up in Copenhagen. As the son of a naval officer, he originally wanted to be a marine artist. When training at the Royal Danish Academy of fine Arts, he and Peder Severin Krøyer were considered to be the most talented students.

Tuxen first visited Skagen in 1870, and he returned several times during the 1870s. More than 20 years would pass before he returned in 1901.

During that time Tuxen trained as a painter in Paris together with Peder Severin Krøyer and he was one of the co-founders of the Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler, which was established as an alternative to the academy.

Tuxen became a popular portrait painter and travelled a lot due to commissions from the royal courts of Europe.

Among others, Tuxen painted large group portraits of the families of the Danish king, Queen Victoria and the Russian Tsar.

Tuxen was married to Ursule de Baisieux from Belgium, with whom he had two daughters, Yvonne and Ninna. When his wife died in 1899, he went on to marry Frederikke Treschow from Norway in 1901 and the family settled in Copenhagen.

That same year, the Tuxen family bought Madam Bendsen’s cottage in Skagen - a house where both the Johansen and Krøyer families had previously resided - and the Tuxens converted the cottage into a summer villa, Villa Dagminne.

From then on, Tuxen was mostly interested in painting his family life and the people around him, the nature of Skagen, the sea, and the flowers in his garden.

Laurits Regner Tuxen was among the founders of Skagens Museum in 1908. | Source: © Art Museums of Skagen

Laurits Regner Tuxen (9 December 1853 - 21 November 1927) was a Danish painter and sculptor specialising in figure painting.

He was also associated with the Skagen Painters.

He was the first head of Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler, an art school established in the 1880s to provide an alternative to the education offered by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

Lauritz Regner Tuxen grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of Nicolai Elias Tuxen (1810–1891) and Bertha Laura Giødvad (1815–1908). His father was a naval officer and director of the Danish naval shipyard (Orlogsværftet). The still life-and flowerpainter Nicoline Tuxen (1847–1931) was his older sister.

From 1868-1872, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art together with Peder Severin Krøyer (1851–1909).

He studied in the Paris studio of Léon Bonnat during 1875–1876 and again from 1877-1878.

He first visited Skagen in 1870, returning on several occasions. In the 1880s and 1890s, he travelled widely painting portraits for Europe's royal families including Christian IX of Denmark, Queen Victoria and the Russian royalty.

Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler was founded in Copenhagen during 1882, at the initiative of a group of dissatisfied students from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and as a reaction to the outdated teachings at the Academy.

Laurits Tuxen became the school's first director and Peder Severin Krøyer one of its teachers.

In 1914 he made a study trip to Greece to paint the entry of George I of Greece into Salonika, for the Christian castle.

He made lively and well-characterized portraits, among them his self-portrait in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and portraits of P. S. Krøyer, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

He also made portraits in sculpture, including a portrait group of Krøyer and Michael Ancher.

Tuxen went on to paint a number of landscapes in and around Skagen, but also completed a number of paintings of his family, friends and garden flowers. | Source: © Wikipedia

Fonte: Art Museums of Skagen

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Laurits Regner Tuxen è cresciuto a Copenaghen.

In quanto figlio di un ufficiale di marina, inizialmente voleva diventare un artista della marina. Durante la formazione presso l'Accademia reale danese di belle arti, lui e Peder Severin Krøyer erano considerati gli studenti più talentuosi.

Tuxen visitò per la prima volta Skagen nel 1870 e tornò più volte negli anni '70 dell'Ottocento.

Sarebbero passati più di 20 anni prima del suo ritorno nel 1901.

Durante quel periodo Tuxen si formò come pittore a Parigi insieme a Peder Severin Krøyer e fu uno dei co-fondatori del Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler, che fu istituito come alternativa all'accademia.

Tuxen divenne un famoso ritrattista e viaggiò molto grazie alle commissioni delle corti reali d'Europa.

Tra gli altri, Tuxen dipinse ritratti di grandi gruppi delle famiglie del re danese, della regina Vittoria e dello zar russo.

Tuxen era sposato con Ursule de Baisieux dal Belgio, dalla quale ebbe due figlie, Yvonne e Ninna.

Quando sua moglie morì nel 1899, sposò Frederikke Treschow dalla Norvegia nel 1901 e la famiglia si stabilì a Copenaghen.

Nello stesso anno, la famiglia Tuxen acquistò il cottage di Madam Bendsen a Skagen - una casa dove avevano precedentemente risieduto le famiglie Johansen e Krøyer - ed i Tuxen lo trasformarono in una villa estiva, Villa Dagminne.

Da quel momento in poi, Tuxen si interessò principalmente a dipingere la sua vita familiare e le persone intorno a lui, la natura di Skagen, il mare ed i fiori del suo giardino.

Laurits Regner Tuxen fu tra i fondatori dello Skagens Museum nel 1908. | Fonte: © Art Museums of Skagen

Lauritz Tuxen | Portrait of Peder Severin Krøyer