The Fruits of A Long Life
He won himself many loyal supporters and good friends early on, among them two of the most important Danish artists of his time, Jens Juel and Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard, who were vital for him as an aspiring young engraver. Many of Clemens’ portraits are based on Juel’s originals.
He survived many of his contemporary artistic friends, some by several decades, and was able to establish himself with new generations of artists such as Lorentzen and Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. He made etchings based on several of their works. In his later years he experimented with lithography, a printing technique which competed successfully against copperplate etching in the years to come.
He was skillful, persistent and ambitious, and used his social contacts to reach his goals. His total output comes to around 400 prints.
Read more about this topic: Johan Frederik Clemens
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