Christen Købke

Christen Købke
Self portrait, oil on canvas, circa 1833
Born	(1810-05-26)26 May 1810 Kastellet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	7 February 1848(1848-02-07) (aged 37) Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Education	Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
Known for	Painting
Movement	Danish Golden Age, Romanticism

Christen Schiellerup Købke (26 May 1810 – 7 February 1848), Danish painter, was born in Copenhagen to Peter Berendt Købke, a baker, and his wife Cecilie Margrete. He was one of 11 children. Købke is one of the best known artists belonging to the Golden Age of Danish Painting.

In 1815 the family moved from a bakery near Hillerød to Kastellet, a military fortification area in Copenhagen, where his father was head baker. At the age of 11 he suffered from a bout of rheumatic fever. He made many drawings during his convalescence and decided that he would become an artist.

In 1822 at 12 years of age he started his studies at Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi). He studied first in the drawing class, then under Christian August Lorentzen’s painting studio, and finally 4 years under Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg after Lorentzen’s death in 1828. Eckersberg stressed observance of nature, and Købke’s talent grew under Eckersberg’s disciplined training. Eckersberg’s influence is readily seen in Købke’s first mature work "View of Århus Cathedral" (Parti af Århus Domkirke) painted in 1829. The painting was purchased by the Art Union (Kunstforening) and is now in the collection of the National Art Museum (Statens Museum for Kunst).

He received the Academy’s small silver medallion in 1831 and a large silver medallion in 1833.

He lived in Kastellet until 1833 and made many paintings of the area. His painting "Gården ved bageriet i Kastellet" (ca. 1832) hangs in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen.

In 1832 he shared a studio with friend, landscape painter Frederik Hansen Sødring. He painted a portrait of Sødring which now hangs in the Hirschsprung Collection.