Studie af dames mantille

1772–1780

Eight years abroad: Rome and Paris

From 1772 Juel lived and worked in Rome, and later went to Paris, then an important centre of portrait painting; he returned to Denmark only eight years later, in 1780.

1776 · Virkested

Paris

1777 · Virkested

Geneva

1777

Two years in Geneva with Charles Bonnet

In 1777 Juel came to Geneva and spent two years with his friend the naturalist Charles Bonnet, who had gathered a small circle of Danish artists at his country house. Together with three other artists he illustrated Bonnet’s naturalistic and philosophical “History”; thanks to Bonnet, Juel’s reputation spread to Denmark.

1780

Returns to Denmark as portraitist to the royal house

In 1780, after eight years abroad, Juel returned to Denmark and at home painted the well-known picture “The Poet of the Messiah” (Messiadens Digter). In Copenhagen he became the portraitist of the royal house and of many aristocratic patrons.

1780

Meets the poet Klopstock

Before returning to Denmark, Juel met, among others, the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, author of the “Messiah”.