Bissen
Bosc d’Anjou posted a photo:
Ditlev Blunck (1799-1853) – The sculptor Herman Vilhelm Bissen (1834). In the collection of the Nationalhistoriske Museum, Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark, shown at the temporary exhibition “The Danish Golden Age” at the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, February – July 2019.
Bissen (1798-1868) and Blunck were about the same age and were both from the Danish-ruled, predominantly German-speaking Duchies of Schleswig (Bissen) and Holstein (Blunck). They both won Danish Academy travel scholarships to Rome where they stayed for about 10 years. Bissen who was in Rome from 1824 to 1834 worked for a time as an assistant to Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. Blunck stayed in Rome from 1828 to 1838. Blunck painted this portrait in Rome just prior to Bissen’s return to Denmark. Although there were many similarities between the two, there were also important dissimilarities. Blunck was openly gay and ended up being banned from Denmark for some incident related to his sexual orientation. Bissen celebrated the Danish victory in the First Schleswig war (1848-1850) between Denmark and Prussia for the control of Schleswig-Holstein. Blunck, who had been expelled from Denmark in 1841, fought in that war for the Prussian side.
