Constantin Hansen

Constantin Hansen
Portrait of Constantin Hansen by Albert Küchler (1837)
Born	(1804-11-03)3 November 1804 Rome, Italy
Died	29 March 1880(1880-03-29) (aged 75) Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Education	Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
Known for	Painting
Movement	Danish Golden Age, Romanticism

Carl Christian Constantin Hansen (Constantin Hansen) (3 November 1804 – 29 March 1880) was one of the painters associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He was deeply interested in literature and mythology, and inspired by art historian Niels Lauritz Høyen, he tried to recreate a national historical painting based on Norse mythology. He painted also many altarpieces and portraits, including the historical The Constitutional Assembly (Den grundlovgivende Rigsforsamling) between 1861 and 1865.

He was born in Rome, the son of portrait painter Hans Hansen. The family soon relocated to Vienna, where the widow of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became godmother at his christening. Within his first year, the family moved to Copenhagen, where he was raised.

He entered the architecture school of the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) at 12 years of age, but changed his course of study to painting at the age of 21. He began his training under Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg in 1828. He lost both his parents at about this time to typhus, and became the sole supporter of his younger sisters. He took over several commissions that had belonged to his father, including some copies to the Portrait Collection at Frederiksborg Palace and decorative paintings to Christiansborg Palace.

In 1835 he received a two-year stipend to travel abroad, which was followed up by an additional year's stipend. His travels took him through Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Nuremberg and Munich on his way to Italy, where he travelled extensively and stayed longer periods in Rome, Naples and Pompeii. In Italy he met fellow Dane, the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. He travelled with other Danish artists, including Jørgen Roed, Christen Købke and decorative painter Georg Christian Hilker.