| August Jerndorff | |
|---|---|
August Jerndorff photographed by Frederik Riise |
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| Born | 25 January 1846 Oldenburg, Germany |
| Died | 28 July 1906 (aged 60) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Field | Painting |
| Training | Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts |
| Movement | Realism |
August Andreas Jerndorff (25 January 1846 – 28 July 1906) was a Danish painter who is best known for his portraits.
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August Jarndorff was born on 25 January 1846 in Oldenburg. His parents were Just Jerndorff, painter to the Oldenburg Court, and Nancy Caroline née Jones.[1] He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1863 to 1868 and studied privately with P. C. Skovgaard. He received a travel scholarship and traveled to Italy where he lived from 1875 to 1878. He became acquainted with but remained relatively unaffected by the latest Realist tendencies in European painting.
Back in Denmark, he was a co-founder of the painting academy at Søkvæsthuset on Christianshavn in Copenhagen in 1880, alongside Laurits Tuxen and F. Swarz,[2] a precursor of Artist's Independent Studio Schools which were founded two years later. He received the Thorvaldsen Medal in 1884 and became a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1891.[3]
Jerndorff started his career as a landscape painter under the influence of Skovgaard, but soon turned to portrait painting and Biblical subjects. He is best known for a number of monumental portraits which were painted for the Danish museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle.
His religious paintings include 12 Apostles for Jesus Church in Copenhagen,[3] an altar piece for the church in Nykøbing Mors, and landscapes.
Together with Thorvald Bindesbøll, Otto Haslund and Joakim Skovgaard, Jerndorff also worked with ceramics in the mid 1880s, a collaboration which led to the foundation of the Dekorationsforeningen society in 1887. With the same collaborators he illustrated Holger Drachmann's Troldhøj.[2]