Kristian Zahrtmann - Youth and Artistic Training

Youth and Artistic Training

He was born in Rønne, Denmark on the island of Bornholm to chief doctor for the island Carl Vilhelm Zahrtmann and wife Laura Pauline. He was the oldest child among seven boys and two girls. After graduating from Rønne Realskole at seventeen years of age, he was sent to Sorø Academy, where he studied painting with landscape painter Johannes Georg Smith Harder (also known as Hans Harder). He was often a guest at the home of the Academy’s Director, poet Bernhard Severin Ingemann and his wife, where he had the chance to socialize with teachers of the school and other guests, such as Hans Christian Andersen. He graduated in 1862, and received his cand. phil in 1863. During these years he lived with a family whose daughter was a painter, which inspired him also to try his luck as an artist.

After graduating he came to Copenhagen, where during the winter 1863-1864 he studied drawing at the Technical Institute under Christian Hetsch and architect Ferdinand Vilhelm. Jensen. He also received private instruction from genre painter Wenzel Ulrich Tornøe during this same time. He then began his studies in October 1864 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Danish: Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) where he studied under Johan Adolph Kittendorff, Wilhelm Marstrand, Jørgen Roed, Niels Simonsen, and Frederik Vermehren, a fellow graduate of Sorø Academy. Classmates included August Jerndorff, Peder Severin Krøyer and Rasmus Frederik Hendriksen.