Nicolai AbildgaardDanish, 1743–1809Roms herredømme
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Copenhagen, Denmark
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- KKS13799
In the catalog
Sources
- SMK
- Image: SMK — National Gallery of Denmark — public domain
Meanwhile, in the life of Nicolai Abildgaard
The whole life1777–1794
His most productive years
Besides monumental works Abildgaard produced vignettes and illustrations, to Socrates and Ossian among others, designed Old Norse costumes, and did some sculpture, etching and writing.
c. 1785
Death of his four-year-old son Marcus Aurelius
The painter’s son Marcus Aurelius, born in 1781, lived only to the age of four.
1789
Unanimously elected director of the Academy
After a failed attempt in 1787, Abildgaard was unanimously elected director of the Academy, serving in 1789–1791 (by other accounts until 1792). He had a reputation as a tyrant who took as many of the Academy’s monumental commissions as he could for himself.
1789–1790
Revolutionary ideals in the Knights’ Hall
Inspired by the French Revolution, Abildgaard tried to bring its ideals into the paintings of the Knights’ Hall at Christiansborg, but the King rejected his designs.
1792
A design for the Freedom Column
A religious freethinker and advocate of political reform, Abildgaard supported the emancipation of the farmers, helped raise money for the Freedom Column (Frihedsstøtten) and contributed a design for the monument and for two reliefs on its base.
