Liggende kvindelig model

1809

Great Gold Medal of the Academy

Only after Abildgaard's death does he win the Academy's Great Gold Medal. A travel stipend is promised together with the medal, but the funds will not be made available until 1812.

1 July 1810

Marries Christine Rebecca Hyssing

Against his wishes he marries E. Christine Rebecca Hyssing in order to “legitimize” her son, Erling Carl Vilhelm Eckersberg. Erling will later get an academy education and become a copperplate engraver.

3 July 1810

Leaves the country with de Neergaard

A few days after the wedding he sets out abroad with the writer, art lover and patron Tønnes Christian Bruun de Neergaard, travelling through Germany to Paris. He is eager to stretch his skills and knowledge and partly to escape the reality of his marriage, and he arranges the money for the journey himself, since the stipend has not yet been paid.

1810–1813 · Virkested

Paris

1811–1812

Studies under Jacques-Louis David in Paris

He improves his skill in painting the human form and follows his teacher's admonition to paint after Nature and the Antique in order to find Truth.

1811–1812

Lifelong friends: Møller and Clemens

In Paris he forms a lifelong friendship with his roommate, the fellow artist Jens Peter Møller, and with the engraver Johan Frederik Clemens, a collaborator of Jens Juel.