Carl Heinrich Bloch was a Danish painter.

He was born in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and studied with Wilhelm Marstrand

Wilhelm Marstrand

Nicolai Wilhelm Nikolaj Marstrand , painter and illustrator, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to Nicolai Jacob Marstrand, instrument maker and inventor, and Petra Othilia Smith...

 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art

Royal Danish Academy of Art

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts has provided a practice-oriented complement to the scholarly investigation of the arts carried out at Danish universities for more than 250 years, playing a crucial part in the development of the distinctive tradition of the art of Denmark.- History :The Royal...

 (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) there. Bloch's parents wanted their son to enter a respectable profession - an officer in the Navy. This, however, was not what Carl wanted. His only interest was drawing and painting, and he was consumed by the idea of becoming an artist. He went to Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 to study art, passing through the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, where he became acquainted with the work of Rembrandt, which became a major influence on him. Carl Bloch met his wife, Alma Trepka, in Rome, where he married her on May 31, 1868. They were married until her early death in January 1886.

His early work featured rural scenes from everyday life. From 1859 to 1866, Bloch lived in Italy, and this period was important for the development of his historical style.
His first great success was the exhibition of his "Prometheus Unbound" in Copenhagen in 1865. After the death of Marstrand, he finished the decoration of the ceremonial hall at the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

. The sorrow over losing his wife weighed heavily on Bloch, and being left alone with their eight children after her death was very difficult for him.

In a New Year's letter from 1866 to Bloch, H. C. Andersen wrote the following: "What God has arched on solid rock will not be swept away!" Another letter from Andersen declared "Through your art you add a new step to your Jacob-ladder

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder is a "ladder to heaven", described by biblical Jacob in the Book of GenesisJacob's Ladder may also refer to:* Ladder of Jacob, a pseudepigraphic text of the Old Testament...

 into immortality."

In a final ode, from a famous author to a famous artist, H.C. Andersen said "Write on the canvas; write your seal on immortality. Then you will become noble here on earth."

He was then commissioned to produce 23 paintings for the Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace

Frederiksborg Palace

Frederiksborg castle is a castle in Hillerød, Denmark. It was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV, and is now known as The Museum of National History. The current building replaced a previous castle erected by Frederick II, and is the largest Renaissance palace in Scandinavia...

. These were all scenes from the life of Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

 which have become very popular as illustrations. The originals, painted between 1865 and 1879, are still at Frederiksborg Palace. The altarpieces can be found at Holbaek, Odense, Ugerloese and Copenhagen in Denmark, as well as Loederup, Hoerup, and Landskrona in Sweden.

Through the assistance of Danish-born artist Soren Edsberg, the acquisition of "Christ healing at the pool of Bethesda," [formerly owned by Indre Mission , Copenhagen, Denmark], was recently made possible for The Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.

Carl Bloch died of cancer on February 22, 1890. His death came as "an abrupt blow for Nordic art" according to an article by Sophus Michaelis. Michaelis stated that "Denmark has lost the artist that indisputably was the greatest among the living." Kyhn stated in his eulogy at Carl Bloch's funeral that "Bloch stays and lives."

A prominent Danish art critic, Karl Madsen, stated that Carl Bloch reached higher toward the great heaven of art than all other Danish art up to that date. Madsen also said "If there is an Elysium, where the giant, rich, warm and noble artist souls meet, there Carl Bloch will sit among the noblest of them all!" (From Carl Bloch Site).

Bloch's influence

For over 40 years The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made heavy use of Carl Bloch's paintings, mostly from the Frederiksborg Palace collection, in its church buildings and printed media. The LDS church has produced films depicting scriptural accounts of Christ's mortal ministry, using Bloch's paintings as models for the colour, light and overall set design as well as the movement of the actors in many of the films' scenes. The most notable example of this is the movie The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd

The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd

The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd is a 67-minute film produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Testaments depicts the life of Jesus in Jerusalem while also depicting the events described in the Book of Mormon from approximately the same time period...

.

You can see a scrolling set of his pictures and schedule a visit to the Museum of Fine Art, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.http://carlbloch.byu.edu/

External links

• www.CarlBloch.org 43 paintings by Carl Heinrich Bloch
• Life of Christ: The Art of Carl Bloch